


I Loathe You

by clockwork_fayz



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter Next Generation, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 55,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22981318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clockwork_fayz/pseuds/clockwork_fayz
Summary: Rose Weasley hates Scorpius Malfoy...for now. Old fanfiction from FFN that I figured I should transfer over to here.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	1. Family Dinner

"I loathe Scorpius Malfoy with every ounce of my being!" Rose shouted as she walked into her dormitory.

Her best friend Sarah rolled her eyes. "What did he do this time?"

"In Care of Magical Creatures, he made fun of me for being scared of the Jarvey!"

Sarah snorted, "You were afraid of a Jarvey?"

"They are so rude! Besides, the Ministry of Magic classified it as a level three!"

Sarah was used to Rose complaining about Malfoy. The two teens had a bitter relationship since first year, when Rose quickly became every professor's favorite student. Rose was the smartest in her year; she was told she had her mom's intelligence, but also could be very fiery when she was angry like her dad. At first Scorpius started with the teasing and poking fun at her, but over the years it turned to insults. And Rose fought with him right back. Scorpius was her cousin's Albus's best friend. Albus was disappointed that they didn't get along, but he dealt with it.

Rose plopped down on her bed and unpacked her homework. Even though it was Friday night, Rose liked to get a head start on essays. However, she didn't get the chance to begin, because her cousin Lily burst into the room.

"Rose, did you forget? We are supposed to have family dinner tonight!"

Rose groaned, "Do I have to come? It's stupid we are having it on Friday anyways."

Lily came and grabbed her arm. "Yes you have to come, we all decided that today would work better. And Dominique is bringing her new boyfriend, so that should be interesting!"

Rose was really close with my younger cousin, almost as close as she was with Albus. Lily was sweet and bubbly, very rare to see her without a smile, and she often skipped down the corridors.

"She hadn't told me she had a new boyfriend?" Rose asked. Dom was in Gryffindor with her and shared the dormitory with her. She usually told Rose everything. Ever since Dom turned 14, she had become boy crazy. Now that they were in their fifth year, she had a new boy every couple weeks.

Rose looked at Sarah, who just shrugged her shoulders. Sarah had no idea she had a new boyfriend either.

"I think he's a sixth year," said Lily. "Want to come Sarah? We can meet this mystery guy."

"No thanks, I'm not hungry."

Rose raised her eyebrows at Sarah, but Sarah buried herself in the magazine she was reading.

Rose knew the real reason she didn't want to come was because she had a crush on Albus. Lately she couldn't be around him without getting flustered; about every day in class.

"Your loss, come on Lil. Let's go eat with the family."

When we got down there, most of the family was already sitting down and chatting. We tried to get together every Sunday for dinner; and idea from Nana Weasley. Rose's older cousins, James and Fred, were throwing grapes at Roxy. Lucy and Jack were practicing charms on each other while Perry and Louis watched in awe. Rose slid onto the bench next to Albus and Hugo.

"Hugo, how did you do on your potions exam?" Rose asked. Hugo's cheeks started to turn red.

"I tried, I really did! But I kept getting names mixed up! How am I supposed to remember like 20 names of dead people, it was hard!"

"It's alright Hu," said Fred, "I don't remember names well either. In fact...which cousin are you again?"

Hugo reached across the table and punched Fred in the arm. James was shoveling his food in his mouth when his eyes grew wide. Rose glanced around to see what caused his reaction when she saw it. Dominique was walking towards us with a boy on her arm.

"No way," said Al, "Is that-"

"Solderini." sneered James.

"Solderini? The Slytherin captain?" Rose asked, "As in the one who is keeping Al from trying out for the team?"

"That's the one," grimaced Al. "But isn't he a seventh year?" 

Rose looked at Dom who was gleaming. She looked perfect as usually, with her strawberry blond hair, and shining blue eyes. She seemed very pleased with herself being on the arm of a seventh year. "Hi guys! This is my boyfriend, Blaine," she said brightly. 

The only one who spoke up was Lily.

"Hello Blaine, I'm Dom's cousin Lily." Blaine gave her a look of disgust, followed by a simple nod. It was then that they all decided that they hated him.

Dom started introducing the family one at a time to her boyfriend, but it was obvious he could care less what our names were. Then she and Blaine sat a little way away from the family all so they could eat privately. James turned to the rest.

"Out of all the boys in school, she had to pick him?"

"Be quiet James!" scolded Lily, "You don't want Dom to hear. I don't like him either, but if Dom likes him, we will give him a chance. Or at least put up with him."

Dominique giggled very loudly, making James violently stab his steak with his fork. "You don't know him Lil, he's bad news."

Rose turned to look at Blaine and Dom. He had his arm around her and was whispering in her ear. Dom was hanging on to every word he said. It was obvious she was head over heels for this guy, which was odd. Usually with Dom, the veela part of her made the boys obsessed with her. 

After dinner, the family started heading to our separate common rooms. Rose was heading up the stairs with Lily, James, Fred, and Hugo when she remembered she forgot to get the book she needed for class.

"You guys go ahead, I have to stop at the library real quick!" Rose said. 

Fred shook his head, "Rosie, Rosie. When are you ever not at the library?" She rolled my eyes.

"I just need to grab a book for my transfiguration homework. It'll be like five minutes," and she sprinted off towards the library. After a while of searching, Rose found the book she needed... on the very top shelf. Rose was relatively short, so she was forced to get the stool so she could reach. Rose pulled it down and started flipping through the pages when she heard the cold, sniveling voice that ruined her night in an instance.

"Well, well. If it isn't Weasley."


	2. Wait...what?

Scorpius Malfoy was standing a few feet away from Rose with his usual smug grin. His white-blond hair was perfectly swooped to one side, and his foggy grey eyes were staring Rose down. She glared back.

"What do you want Malfoy? Are you lost? This is the library, where people who actually know how to read come. Or are you just following me?" This was an exaggeration, Malfoy often came to the library, almost as much as Rose did.

Malfoy smirked, "Actually I was chasing a jarvey. Have you seen one?" He was still poking fun at her for being scared in class. She could feel her cheeks starting to turn red from her anger.

"Why don't you go bother someone else? Perhaps a troll, so you can be with your kind." Rose jumped off the stool and started to walk past him. He put his hand out to stop her.

"Now don't leave on my account Weasley. I know you need a little extra help in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Perhaps I could tutor you?" Defense was not Rose's strongest subject; it was the only subject where Malfoy was ahead of her.

"Sure Malfoy. And why we're at it, I'll tutor you in Potions. And Charms. And Herbology. And Transfiguration. And-"

"Little full of ourselves, aren't we?"

"Coming from you, Malfoy. Now get out of my way." Rose tried to move past him again, but he wouldn't stopped her.

"Your face is a little red Weasley, did you know?"

At that comment, Rose stamped on his foot as hard as she could. She could still hear Malfoy swearing as I exited the library.

In the Gryffindor common room, Albus was over visiting for a game of exploding snap. Usually students of other houses rarely came into each other's common rooms, but the Weasley/Potter clan went where they pleased. Rose was constantly in the Ravenclaw room with Roxy, and occasionally she went in the Hufflepuff room to help her younger cousins with their homework. Rose did visit Al often in Slytherin, but the visits were usually cut short by the presence of Malfoy.

Rose looked around the common room for Sarah, but she was nowhere in sight, so Rose figured she was in their room. As she expected, Sarah was on her bed curled up with a book.

"Hey, why aren't you in the common room? You're not in your usual spot."

Sarah glanced up from her book. "I was down there, but then _he_ came. _He_ invited me to play exploding snap, but I politely refused and retreated here."

"Sarah you are going to have to either make your move on Al or get over it because you can't keep running when he comes near."

Sarah sat up. "I'm working on it! It's a process. Now tell me about the boyfriend."

"You'll never believe who it is," Rose plopped down on the bed beside her, "Blaine Solderini."

"The seventh year Slytherin Quidditch player?"

"Yep."

"The one that is Albus is scared of, so he won't try out for the team?"

"Yep."

"Seriously? So what is he like?" A look of disgust must of crossed Rose's face because she said, "That bad?"

"It's obvious that he is stuck up and hates us all. He looks like the kind of guys who would kick a puppy."

Sarah grimaced. "Sounds like a real charmer."

Just then Dom walked through the door, with a huge grin.

"I suppose Rosie has already told you about my new boyfriend! Can you believe it? Me with Blaine Solderini!"

Sarah put on a fake smile for her. "Yeah she told me, congratulations. I didn't know you even liked him?"

"Well I didn't think about dating him, until he came and asked me out! He wanted to keep it low-key until we were for sure dating. I so badly wanted to tell you two though! Isn't he perfect Rosie?" Dom sighed.

"Well he seems, uh, very-"

"Oh, I have to go send a letter to Vic! She won't believe it!" And with that, Dom raced back out of the room.

Sarah gave Rose a look of distaste, "I don't know if I can handle her talking about him every waking hour..."

"Maybe their relationship will only last a few weeks? You never know."

"If she stays like this for even that long, I'm going to die," said Sarah as she slammed her face into a pillow. "Oh," Sarah said as she was sitting up, "by the way, did you get that book we needed for transfiguration?"

"Yep, it's right here. Sorry I took so long. You'll never guess who I ran into."

"Scorpius?"

"The toad himself, it's like he follows me just so he can make me mad!" Rose got up and threw herself dramatically on to her bed.

"Well, at least he's hot."

This made Rose sit straight up. "What?!"

"I mean if you're going to have a guy that follows you around, at least he's nice to look at. I'd rather have an attractive enemy than one that looks like a troll."

Rose stared at Sarah, trying to process what she was saying. "What do you mean he's nice to look at?"

"Well, he has that gorgeous bleach-y hair, and it's always swooped so perfectly to the side. And his beautiful grey eyes. Plus he's pretty fit, to be honest."

"I didn't realized you spent some much time looking at Scorpius Malfoy," Rose scoffed.

"Well not that often," she shrugged, "But hey, I'm no different than the rest of the girls at this school."

Rose stared at her again, "Other girls like him too?"

Sarah looked at her like I was insane. "Of course they do! Haven't you ever noticed all the girls fawning over him? And then when he ignores them so he can come fight with you, they're obviously jealous.

Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I guess I never noticed."

"No kidding! I can't believe you never noticed how attractive Scorpius Malfoy was! Of course, he's not as attractive of Albus-Al is so much more handsome, with his bright green eyes and his black hair that is messy..." Sarah said dreamily. As she trailed off, there was a sharp knock at the door, followed by Al entering. Sarah jumped wide eyed, causing Al to look at us in confusion.

"What's wrong Sarah, you look like you've seen a ghost?"

Sarah turned pale, so Rose quickly lied for her.

"I was telling her about these beasts I read about in my book who eat humans, and then you walked in and scared us." Al seemed to buy it.

"Oh ok then, I was wondering if you guys wanted to come down and play exploding snap, we are starting a new round."

Sarah stuttered, "Well...I...Uhm..."

"We'd love to!" Rose said, and grabbed her by the arm. It would do good for her to spend some time with Albus, Rose thought. And hopefully Rose could also get her mind off of what Sarah said about Scorpius Malfo


	3. Spacing OFf

At breakfast the next morning all thoughts of Malfoy were gone. That is because Rose received a letter from her Uncle Percy. Uncle Percy was a stick in the mud if Rose had ever seen one, and his daughter Molly was almost just as bad. His other daughter, Lucy, however was more social and like her mother, thank Merlin for that. Uncle Percy meant well; he cared for us very much, especially our education. His letter was only a couple lines:

_Dear Rose,_

_I hope your fifth year is going well. I'm sure you are receiving the highest marks as usual, and I encourage you to continue that trend. I have the utter most faith in you that you will receive all O's on your OWLs. Good Luck with your studying and we'll see you at Christmas._

_-Uncle Percy_

When Rose got to Potions, she walked straight to where Al was sitting and showed him the letter.

"Did you get one of these?" Al looked at it.

"Yeah, I think he sent it to all the fifth years. But at least he sounds like he has confidence in you! In mine he said 'I know you are struggling, but I encourage you to keep with it".

There was a tap on Rose's shoulder. She turned around to see Malfoy standing there.

"Excuse me, shrew, but you're in my seat," he said nastily.

Rose's face automatically turned into a grimace.

"Excuse you, but I'm talking to my cousin."

He glared at her, and for a second Rose thought wow he does have pretty eyes. Then she came to her senses and realized what she was just thinking. Her cheeks flared up red, and Malfoy gave her a strange look. She quickly shoved her way past him to her table with Dom and Sarah.

"What's up with you?" Dom asked when Rose sat down.

"Nothing," she quickly changed the subject, "did you get a letter from Uncle Percy?"

Dom rolled her eyes, "Yeah, he just said that I should focus more on school if I want to be head girl like Vic, blah blah blah".

Lucky for Rose, Professor Slughorn stood up and started the lecture, before Dom could go back to pestering her. Rose tried to focus on what Professor Slughorn was saying and not look at Malfoy at all, but occasionally she found her eyes drifting that way. Rose never really looked at Malfoy before, like really looked at him. And now that she did, she realized that Sarah was right...he wasn't ugly. He was actually kind of hot. Rose tried to tell herself that he wasn't, but who was she kidding. She also realized that the girls did fawn over him. Missy Hale, a Slytherin girl, would giggle every time he cracked a joke with Al and Jessamine Penhallow was way too excited to let him borrow a quill.

"Rose!" She woke up from her thoughts, and looked at Sarah. She and Dom were looking at Rose weird.

"What is up with you today? Do you even know what potion we are supposed to be making right now?" Sarah asked.

"Uh...Strengthen Solution?"

Dom's mouth fell agape. "Rose, honey are you ok? We're making wit-sharpening solution. I don't think I've ever seen you space off in class before."

"It's nothing. I'm just tired."

Dom seemed to accept this answer, but Sarah squinted her eyes at Rose.

Rose gave her a look that said drop it until later, she obliged.

After class, Rose's plan was to get out of there as quick as she could, but Slughorn stopped her so he could ask how Rose's mother was. Her mum was very important in the ministry, but Rose was surprised he didn't stop Al. Albus must have gotten away in time. It took me a couple minutes, but Rose finally escaped. She stepped out of the classroom to see Malfoy standing against the wall talking to Missy Hale. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but Missy was twirling her hair and batting her big eyes at him which made Rose want to vomit. She stalked passed without giving them a single glance.

"Weasley!"

Surprised, Rose turned around to see Malfoy coming up to her, with an angry looking Missy left behind giving her dagger eyes.

"What do you want Malfoy? You don't want to talk to me too long, your girlfriend might get upset."

Malfoy scowled at her, "Missy is not my girlfriend."

Rose could sense he was genuinely irritated that she had said that. Usually she would take this opportunity and use it to her advantage to make him even angrier, but she decided not to. She could save it for later.

Rose sighed, "What is it, Malfoy?"

His face got a little brighter. "I just wanted to say that I saw that you spaced off today in class. Better not make a habit of it Weasley, or else I might just pass you in Potions."

Rose gave him a dirty look and walked away. Potions was her strongest subject, there was no way he would surpass her she thought. Rose could feel him smirking at her as she walked away.

That night, after dinner, Sarah grabbed Rose by the arm and dragged her to their dormitory. They unpleasantly were met with one of the other girls we shared a room with making out with her boyfriend.

"Sorry ladies, didn't realize dinner was over, we'll go somewhere else" Nicola said, and dragged her boyfriend out the door.

Rose plopped down on my bed. "If I walk on them making out one more time, I'm going to gag."

Sarah wrinkled her nose. "I know, I wish the spell was still on the stairs so no boys whatsoever could come up! Curse you Victoire!"

There used to be a spell on the staircase keeping boys from coming up to the girls' room. But when Rose's cousin was in her fifth year at Hogwarts, she changed the spell so if a girl gave them permission, the boy could come up. Vic was really good at charms, and could do anything she set her mind to it. She could be scary that way.

Sarah sat on the edge of Rose's bed and stared at Rose intently.

"What was up in potions?"

Rose considered lying to her, but Sarah would be able to tell. Instead, Rose hid her face in the pillow and muttered, "You were right... Malfoy is pretty hot."

"I TOLD YOU!" she exclaimed.

"But I do NOT have a crush on him," Rose said quickly, "I hate still hate him. You can hate someone and still think they are hot, right?"

"Of course, it's like that muggle book I read, The Hunger Games. I hated Cato with a passion, but Merlin was he hot!"

Rose laughed; Sarah always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better.

"Speaking of potions, did I tell you how much I dislike Missy Hale? If I hear her giggle one more time, I'm going to jinx her."

Sarah groaned and started ranting about Missy and Jessamine, and how they were the most annoying girls she had ever met. Rose was glad to change the subject; she didn't want to think about Malfoy anymore. Christmas break was next week, and she wouldn't have to see him for two whole weeks.


	4. Christmas

Rose woke up on Christmas morning to Hugo jumping on her bed. This made her smile; even though her little brother was now a teenager, he still woke Rose up on Christmas the same way since he could walk.

"Happy Christmas Rosie!" .

"Happy Christmas Hu, are mum and dad up?"

"Not yet, but look at the haul we have this year!" She looked at the foot of her bed to see the floor covered with presents.

Rose swung her legs over the side and inspected the parcels. "It is a good lot this year, let's go wake mum and dad so we can open them!"

Hugo and Rose raced to their parents room to wake them up. They then dragged their gifts from their respected rooms into the living room so the family could open them together.

Rose got a jumper from Nana Weasley of course, and a muggle book series from Grandma and Grandpa Granger. Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur got her a new dress, a dragon scale necklace form Uncle Charlie, some new quills from Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey, an assortment of Weasley Wizard Wheezes from Uncle Fred and Aunt Angelina, and a new jumper from Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. Uncle Dudley and Aunt Katherine got her some candy. Sarah had sent her a t-shirt of the two of them's favorite muggle show, _Sherlock_ (Sarah's parents are muggles, and when Rose visited last summer they all binge watched it). Hugo got her socks that changed patterns. Rose immediately put them on, and they turned red and green stripes.

Rose saw that she had received a gift from Nicola, which she shoved under her. There was a 75% chance that it was something that Rose wouldn't want to open in front of her parents. Mum handed Rose the present from her and dad. Rose opened it to see the a beautiful dark green silk ball gown.

"Wow. Mum this is beautiful!"

"Hey!" Rose's dad said, "I helped pick it out too!"

"We thought you would like something new to wear to the Remembrance Ball this year," Rose's mother said, "I thought green would look good on you."

"It's perfect!"

Rose had two more presents to open. She looked at the tag of the first one, and read that it was from Al. Every year, the cousins drew names for a Secret Santa, and this year Al must of gotten her. She ripped it open to see a silver dragon necklace. He knew her so well. She fastened it around her neck, along with her dragon scale. They complemented each other perfectly.

Rose reached for the last present, which was wrapped in green. And that was the color of her face when she saw who it was from. The tag read in thick-scrawled handwriting:

_To Weasley; I hope you aren't missing me too much ;)_

_-Scorpius Malfoy._

Rose snatched the parcel, and hid it under her sweater from Nana.

"I'm going to change into my sweater!" she said as she ran to her room with Scorpius's and Nicola's gifts in hand. In her room, Rose opened Nicola's gift first. She had gotten Rose a book called _How to Seduce a Wizard: A Witch's Guide to Getting a Guy_. With it was a note from Nicola saying:

_Happy Christmas Rose, I thought you and Sarah might need this ;) Love ya!_

Good thing I didn't open that downstairs, Rose thought, her father would of thrown a fit. Rose debated whether or not she should even open the gift from Malfoy. What if it was a dead mouse or something gross? But curiosity got the best of her, and she ripped off the wrappings. Inside was a small golden box. Rose slowly pulled open the lid when a loud boom erupted from the box and green and silver dust was spread all over my room, covering the floor.

"Rosie! What was that?" her dad called up the stairs.

"Nothing!" she responded quickly. Rose picked up the golden box she dropped in the explosion, and looked inside. On the bottom was a picture of Malfoy himself winking at her. Rose heard a knock on her door, so she quickly tossed it under her bed.

"Rosie, is everything alrigh- what. happened."

Her mom looked at her room in shock.

"I think I stepped on an old Weasley Wheezes that I forgot under my bed."

"Rose! I told you that you can't shove those places, it's dangerous!" Her mum pulled out her wand and with one flick, cleaned up the dust.

Oh how Rose wished she could do that, but her mother took their wands during breaks.

"We are going to leave for the Potters in an hour, so we can help Nana with the cooking. "

When her mother had left, she grabbed the photo of Malfoy and tried ripping it to shreds. But as hard as she tried, the picture would not tear. Frustrated she threw it on the ground and stomped on it on the way out of the room. 

* * *

"Did I ever tell you how much I loathe Scorpius Malfoy?" Rose said as she walked into Albus's room. Al looked up from his broom which he was polishing with the kit he got for Christmas.

"Happy Christmas to you too, Rosie," Al grunted.

"I'm sorry. Happy Christmas Al! I love the necklace!"

Al put his broom down, " I thought you would. Now what did he do this time? You haven't even seen him since school got out."

Rose grimaced. "Your friend was nice enough to send me the pleasant gift of a green and silver mess of dust all over room."

"That's not too bad, he could of sent you a box full of spiders or something."

Rose shuttered; unfortunately she had inherited her dad's fear of spiders. "It's still awful. Malfoy is a conceited, awful, arrogant...arrogant-"

"Prat?" offered James as he walked into the room.

"Yes. An arrogant prat."

"You're lucky Scorp couldn't make it to Christmas Dinner," said James.

Couldn't argue with that.

"Children, come help me in the kitchen!" shouted Nana Weasley. They all groaned and headed downstairs, where Rose promptly ran into Teddy and Victoire. Victoire was wearing her new burgundy sweater with a V on it, and Teddy was wearing his new green one.

"Happy Christmas guys, thanks Rosie for the movies!" Teddy said. Rose ran and hugged them both. Victoire looked at Rose strangely.

"Is Roxy here yet?" she asked.

"Not yet," Rose replied.

"That's ok, Lily will do. LILY COME IN HERE FOR A MINUTE."

Lily walked in from the kitchen. She ran to Teddy to give him a hug. Teddy was like an older brother to her, and she rarely got to see him anymore. She didn't even get a word out before Victoire grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her upstairs.

"We'll be down in a minute boys, Rose come on!" Rose had no choice but to run up the stairs after her.

She pulled the girls into Lily's room and shut the door.

"Alright, Dom's new boyfriend. Spill."

Lily and Rose exchanged glances. "I thought she already told you..."

"She told me who it was. But if I remember correctly, Blaine Solderini wasn't a very good person when I was head girl."

"Let's just say I saw him jinx some second years because they were in his path last Monday..." Lily said.

"And he has a reputation for fooling around with a different girl each week," Rose added.

"I told her to stay away from boys like that!"

Rose snorted. "Coming from you."

Victoire looked appalled. "Teddy is a perfect gentlemen mind you!"

"Not Teddy. I seem to remember you once dated a certain seventh year Ravenclaw boy in your fifth year who had quite the reputation."

Victoire's face turned red. "He was a mistake. And that's why I'm worried. I don't want Dom to get hurt."

Lily piped up, "We are planning to stay on guard with him."

"Yeah," Rose continued, "As soon as he makes one wrong move against her or any of our family, he'll have to deal with the 10 angry cousins."

"Alright," Vic sighed, "Keep an eye on her, ok? And Louis too. I know he is only twelve, but I worry about him." The girls promised that they would keep watch over both of her siblings.

Christmastime was always Rose's favorite time of year. The entire family gathered for dinner in Uncle Harry's house. All of her aunts, uncles, cousins, and her extended family like Uncle Neville, Hagrid, Aunt Luna, and all of their families came. Old friends of the family came too. This year Lee Jordan and his wife and kids attended which made dinner a blast. Uncle George and him cracked jokes all evening. They called James and Fred their legacy.

When the family got together, it was always chaos. But Rose wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, I'm transferring this from first person to third and it's also nighttime so there is a good chance I am making a lot of errors. Please feel free to point them out so I can fix them!


	5. Dominique

"Hello Weasley. How was you break?"

Rose looked up from her homework to see Malfoy standing in front of her. It was their first week back after break, and she had been lucky enough to avoid him until now.

Rose put on a fake smile. "Lovely, two whole weeks without having to see you."

"Did you like the present I got you?" he smirked.

"You know, I really didn't need a picture of a rodent, so I gave it to the cat." This wasn't true, actually it was under her bed somewhere. Malfoy just smiled at her ignoring the insult, and her heart flipped over. Wait, what? She was appalled with what she was thinking. She hated Malfoy for her entire Hogwarts schooling, and all of a sudden she couldn't look at him without panicking a little. Curse Sarah for pointing out his flawless hair. Rose gathered her books and started walking away.

"You know Weasley, I was a little disappointed not to receive a gift from you."

Rose turned around. "And why would I waste so much time and effort on someone like yourself?"

"I feel like we such a special relationship, I mean I know everything about you."

She snorted, "No you don't."

"Yes I do," he said walking closer. "At least I know everything that irritates you. I know that you hate it when I get a better grade than you. I know that you wish you had hair like Dominique's rather than the red mess that you have. I know that in third year you had a crush on-"

Rose kicked him in the shin as hard as she could.

"There's your present. Sorry it was late," and she turned around and stormed out the library. Rose knew that Sarah had herbology club right now (something she and Uncle Neville had tried to get Rose to join many times) so she turned and headed toward the Ravenclaw dormitories so she could visit her dear cousin Roxy

Roxy was a great friend to Rose, Rose absolutely loved her. She had dark hair like her mother's that was almost always in a ponytail. She was the Ravenclaw Chaser, the best on the team. During Quidditch matches, it was always hard to pick a team to support. Of course Rose always wanted Gryffindor to win, but it was hard to root against Roxy or Perry who was on the Hufflepuff team.

Rose was still steaming about Malfoy, when she ran into Dom and Blaine walking down the hallway. Blaine was carrying his broom, so Rose assumed he was on his way to Quidditch practice.

"Hey Rosie!" Dom waved.

"Hey Dom, I was just going to visit Roxy, want to come?"

"Sure!" Dom said, but Blaine cleared his throat loudly.

"Can I help you?" Rose snapped.

"Dominique, aren't you coming to watch my Quidditch practice?" Blaine said, giving Rose a dirty look.

Dom's face fell. "Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry Rosie."

"But it's snowing outside, you'll freeze!"

Dom gave her a half-hearted smile. "I'll be fine. I promised Blaine I would go support him. Tell Roxy hi for me!"

Blaine grabbed her arm and steered her away.

Rose banged loudly on the door to the Ravenclaw common room when she got their, much to the eagle knocker's dismay. Roxy happened to open it. "Hi Rose! What brings you here?"

"I just thought I'd visit my lovely cousin. How are you? I haven't seen you since Christmas Dinner."

"I know, I've just been so busy!" she led Rose over to a table in the corner by the fireplace. Rose had always loved the Ravenclaw common room; it felt so cozy. Books were stashed everywhere; under tables on chairs, piling up against the walls. There were great big windows that showed a perfect view of the Quidditch field far below. Rose went over and looked out, and could barely see the form of a pink figure on the bleachers through all the snow.

"Look Roxy, that bloody boyfriend of Dom's has her sitting alone in the cold just to watch his practice."

Roxy came over and looked out beside her. "That doesn't surprise me. He always some poor girl sitting out there. It's pity that it is Dominique this time."

Rose sat down at the table. "How long do you think they will last?"

"Hopefully not much longer" Roxy sighed.

"ARRGGGGHHH!" The girls turned around to see Lucy at a table not far away banging her head against the table.

"You ok Luce?" Rose giggled.

"I HATE History of Magic! I don't understand it and I can't finish this stupid assignment if I don't know anything about the stupid International Warlock Convention of 1289. I'm in Ravenclaw, I'm supposed to know these things!"

Rose walked over and smiled. "Just because you're in Ravenclaw doesn't mean that you have to understand History of Magic. Let me help you."

An hour later, Rose left her dear cousins behind to their studies. Lucy finally started to understand the importance of the convention, enough to get her essay written, and Roxy had to get started on her Astronomy. Rose headed downstairs to dinner, but when she got the second floor she heard people shouting down the hall. Curious, she crept over to see what was happening. Dom and Blaine were standing there, arguing.

"I don't see why I have to sit with you at every meal! I'd like to sit with my family for once!" Dom shouted.

"Because you are my girlfriend and you have to sit by me. That's the deal."

"Well maybe I don't want that to be the deal! I never get to talk to my little brother anymore because I'm always with you! I miss him!"

"Who cares about your stupid family! You better watch yourself, every girl in this school loves me, I can replace you like that!"

Enraged, Rose stepped out behind the corner. "HEY! You can't talk to her like that!" Both of them turned around in surprise.

Blaine snarled, "Get out of here, this doesn't concern you."

"She's my cousin, so it definitely concerns me."

"Rose," Dom said, "I can handle this myself. Go."

Rose looked her bewildered. "No. I'm not leaving because he is not allowed to treat you like this!"

Blaine grabbed Rose's shoulders and pushed her up against the wall. "You heard Dom, she can handle herself."

"Blaine, get your hands of her!" Dom shrieked.

Blaine grabbed Rose by the throat with one hand, and pulled out his wand with the other. He pointed it at Dom and said, " _Petrificus Totalus_!" Dom's body went rigid and she fell to the floor.

"Sorry Sweetie. But I'm tired of your cousin here, and I don't want you to get in the way."

_"Stupefy!"_ someone shouted from the other side of the hall.

Rose felt Blaine's arm go slack, but as he fell to the ground, he dropped her head against the wall. Hard. A shooting pain went through her body as she crumpled. The edges of her vision were turning black. She saw a figure running toward her as fast as they could.

Rose's mind started slipping away, and the last thing she remembered was Scorpius Malfoy bending down in front of her face.

"Rose!" he shouted.

Then Rose blacked out.


	6. Hospital Wing

Rose felt herself slipping in and out of conscience. She felt that she was being carried in someone's arms. She could someone sobbing, but just barely. She could also hear someone else saying over and over very faintly: "Hang in there Rose, I've got you. We're almost there just hang in there."Then her mind went blank again.

Rose woke up in the hospital wing. Dom was sitting beside her bed, teary eyed, beside her was Sarah, Al, James, Fred, Hugo, and Lily.

"Well hello Rosie, enjoy your nap?" joked Fred.

Rose groaned. "How long have I been out?" 

"About 45 minutes," replied Lily.

Rose sat up groggily. "Where-Ow-why does my head hurt?"

"Oh Rosie I'm so sorry!" cried Dom as she threw her arms around Rose.

"You don't remember?" asked Al, "You gave Dom's ex-boyfriend a piece of your mind and he attacked you!"

"Oh yeah," Rose said weakly, "now I'm starting to remember...wait. Ex-boyfriend?"

"You don't honestly think I'd stay with that monster after he hurt you do you? Plus he jinxed me!" Dom exclaimed.

Madam Patil came over from another sick bed. "Oh good, you're up! I hope you're feeling better, you have quite the concussion. You better make sure to thank that Scorpius Malfoy for carrying you all the way here, or else it might of been much worse. He's much more of a gentleman than his father was in school..."

"Wait," Rose paused, "Scorpius carried me here?"

"Yep," said Dom, "He came and stupefied Blaine when he was trying to choke you, remember? Then he un-jinxed me and carried you here."

Madam Patil came and gave Rose a glass of water and some giant pills.

"Here, take these. Your headache should go away instantly, but I still don't want you walking around yet. We'll see how you're feeling tomorrow morning." Rose swallowed the pills with some difficulty, and Madam Patil, satisfied, left to check on another patient.

"So what happened to Blaine?" Rose inquired.

James and Fred started laughing.

"It was really unnecessary for you to do it boys," Lily said, "Malfoy had already stupefied him."

Dom suppressed a giggle. "I don't know, I think it was necessary." 

Rose looked at her cousins' faces. They were obviously proud of whatever they had done. "What is it? What did you do?"

"Well," spoke Fred, "James and I happened to come upon Scorpius carrying you up to the hospital wing. He quickly told us what happened; he was in a hurry and it must of been difficult since you're not the lightest person in the world..." Rose smacked him on the arm for that comment. "Only joking, Rosie jeez!"

"Anyways," said James, "We figured you were in good hands, so we went to find the creep that did that to you and Dom! Because no one messes with our cousins and gets away with it."

"Of course, I'm not entirely satisfied," chimed in Fred, "We are devising a number of pranks that the smuck could accidentally fall upon..."

"Will you get on with it?!" Rose shouted eliciting a look from Madam Patil across the room.

"Fine," continued James, "We found him laying on the floor, still stunned, so Freddy and I left a few presents for him. And as presents we mean we tied him up with a rope, put a dung-bomb in his bag, and possibly gave him a black eye..."

"You forgot you also jinxed his "precious hair"," added Dom.

"Oh yeah," said Fred, "We thought he would look better bald".

Rose stared at her two conniving cousins and burst out laughing. "That's great! I wish I could of seen him!"

"Well he's right over there a few beds down trying to get his hair to grow back if you want to get a good look at his baldness," said Hugo.

Rose bent over as far as she could to try to see Blaine. Madam Patil had the curtains mostly drawn, but Rose could barely see the Slytherin boy snapping at Madam Patil to hurry up. Of course, Madam Patil took none of that. The gang laughed as Madam Patil barked at him to stop complaining, or he would just have to grow back his hair on his own.

"I love you guys, so much!" Rose wiped a tear from her eye. 

That group stayed for ten more minutes chatting, until the next group came. Only six visitors were allowed at a time, except in dire situations. Next Lucy, Jack, Perry, Louis and Roxy arrived. Nicola swung by very quickly to see how Rose was fairing. Madam Patil said Rose should feel very lucky, having so many visitors that cared about her when she was only staying overnight. Rose couldn't agree more. She had the best friends and family in the world. HEr last visitor of the night was the biggest surprise. Scorpius Malfoy came just before Rose was going to get ready for bed.

He walked in, and Rose'e breath hitched a bit. She didn't know why he was there to visit her, but then again she didn't understand why he carried her all the way to the hospital wing when she was unconscious.

"Rose Weasley," he said, standing beside her bed, "I hope you are feeling better?"

"Much, since Madam Patil gave me some drugs." Scorpius smiled at that before they fell into an awkward silence.

"I suppose I better thank you for coming to my rescue and taking me to the hospital wing..."

"It was no problem," he replied, "I couldn't just stand there and watch another person beat up on you. That's my job."

Rose couldn't help but grin at his remark. She rolled her eyes, "My hero."

"I know I am. Now if you excuse me, I just stopped to make sure you weren't dead," and he turned and left the hospital wing as quickly as he came.

Madam Patil let Rose out in the morning. She didn't talk to Scorpius all day, in fact she barely saw him all of the following week. In the evening he didn't come to the library like he usually did. Normally Rose would have been overjoyed to not see him, but she had to admit to herself that she was a little disappointed they weren't having their usual arguments. In fact she kind of missed them. Things seemed to have changed since he had saved her.

Rose kept busy though; without a boyfriend Dom spent every waking minute with her and Sarah. Considering they all shared a room, every sleeping moment too. Sometimes the two didn't mind, but when she tried to search for a boyfriend for them, they got a little annoyed.

"I think that you'd look good with Bentley Nott Sarah," Dom said one evening at dinner.

Sarah choked on her pork. "That sixth year in Ravenclaw?"

Dom looked at her unfazed. "Yeah, he is like the right height for you. And he is pretty cute, with those brown curls."

"I don't think he is my type..."

"Whose not your type?" Al asked, suddenly appearing and sitting across from them. 

"Bentley Nott from Ravenclaw," replied Dom, "I think him and Sarah would make a perfect couple."

Sarah's face turned bright red. Rose came to her rescue, "I think Sarah can choose her own boyfriend, thank you very much Dom. What graces us with your presence today Al?"

"Scorp has detention, and Missy Hale keeps trying to flirt with me, and frankly I can't stand her. I figured I'd sit over here. She wouldn't dare come near with you, Rose, sitting here since she hates you."

"Why does Malfoy have detention? Caught snogging in a broom closet again?" Rose snickered.

"Wait didn't I tell you what apparently happened at Quidditch practice?" Al asked. The girls all shook their heads. "Oh! Well you're going to love this Rosie, you too Dom. Scorpius 'accidentally' hit a bludger at Solderini and he fell off his broom and broke his arm!" 

Rose almost spit out the grapes she was eating. "What?!"

"Yeah," continued Al, "Scorp told everyone it was an accident, but no one believed him. And Professor Ludwig apparently didn't either because he gave him detention for the rest of the week."

Rose couldn't believe. It was obviously not an accident, since Scorpius is the best beater at Hogwarts. Could Scorpius really of gotten detention for her? Well, because he was mad at Blaine for strangling her? Rose thought that maybe she was going crazy. Malfoy hated her, always had. She decided he probably had a thing for Dom. That seemed more plausible.

Later that evening, as Rose was heading back to the common room with Dom and Sarah, she saw Malfoy scrubbing the some plaques on the wall down a corridor.

"You go ahead, I'll meet you upstairs," Rose said. Dom's eyebrows went way up. Rose glared at her until she laughed and pulled Sarah away.

"Hey Malfoy, how's life as a housekeeper?" she asked him.

"Fine thanks," he spat.

It was obvious there was an uncomfortable feeling between them. Finally, Rose said with a softer voice, "I heard that you knocked out Solderini with a Bludger. I suppose that was out of spite from what he did to me?"

Malfoy looked at her straight in the eye. He held her gaze for a long time before saying, "Well I had to get my revenge on him for hurting you... I can't let someone else beat up on my wench."

Rose shuffled her feet, not really knowing what to say. "Thanks. That was sort of sweet of you, in a cold, twisted-Malfoy sort of way."

"You're welcome hag," he said.

SHe punched him in the arm, and then turned around and walked away. But she was smiling, glad that things were back to normal between them. And she knew that he was too.


	7. Finding a Date

It was a sunny day at the beginning of April when Rose was reminded of something horrifying. Since it was such a beautiful day, Al, Sarah, Lily and her were lounging outside on the steps that led down to the Quidditch pitch. Sarah was engrossed in her new book she had ordered. Lily was forcing Al to take a quiz that was in Witch Weekly. Rose leaned back on the warm pavement and closed her eyes. She lay there in peaceful bliss and thought about what she was hoping was for dinner tonight

"Hello Potters. Sarah. Weasley." Her thoughts were interrupted. Rose opened her eyes blinking in the sun, and saw Malfoy looking down at her with his secretive smile he seemed always to be wearing.

"Hey Scorpius," said Lily, "Did you know that Al's ideal man is the hunky-surfer type?"

" I did not," laughed Scorpius, "Perhaps that's why you are attracted to me Al?"

Al swatted at him, but Malfoy ducked.

"Please, you are far from hunky and I doubt you can even stand up on a surf board," Rose snorted.

"I'm a man of many talents, so have you guys found a date to the ball?"

Al groaned. "Dang I forgot about that."

Rose had forgotten about the ball too. Last year was the first year she was able to go; you have to be a fourth year and up to attend. It had taken Rose forever to find a date; she ended up going with a friend of James. They had an ok time, but Rose really didn't know him and would like to go with someone this year she could have fun with.

"Well you better get on that," said Malfoy, "I already have a date."

"Who would be unfortunate enough to ask you?" Rose scoffed.

"Jessamine." Sarah and Rose started laughing. Malfoy glared at them. "You guys are just jealous."

Rose laughed, "Really, I'm not. You have fun with the bimbo."

Scorpius turned to Albus. "Jessa said that Missy is planning on asking you to the ball this weekend."

Sarah's head snapped up and Al's face started to turn green. "Oh no, then I only have a couple days to get a date before she asks me."

"You could always go with her, Al" Lily said.

"Well I can't deny her if she asks me, but I really don't want to go with her. If I find someone to go with me before she asks, then problem solved!" he said. "Come on Scorp, let's go to the kitchen and get some food. I need to brainstorm." Albus got up and the two boys headed back to the castle. 

"Sarah!" Rose shouted as soon as they were out of ear shot, "This is your moment! Ask him to the ball!"

"No!" she yelled back.

"Sarah, you heard what he said! He needs a date by this weekend before Missy asks him because he doesn't want to go with her!"

Sarah buried her head in her hands. "I can't..."

"Rose is right, the time to ask my brother out is now. What is the worst that can happen?" Lily asked. Lily herself knew about the crush Sarah had on Al. Unlike her brother, she was observant about people around her. 

"Everything could be ruined. He could be repulsed by me asking, say no, and then it would be awkward between us forever!"

Rose took Sarah's hands and gave her a pep talk. "Sarah Elianna you are an amazing girl, not to mention the best best friend ever, and Albus would be lucky to go with you. Plus he won't say no; if he's too nice to say no to Missy than he is definitely too nice to say no to you."

Sarah sighed. "I'll think about it. But what about you? Who are you going to go with?"

That was a good question. Who was Rose going to go with?

...

...

...

"Roxyyyyy who am I going to go withhhhh?"

Rose was sitting in the Ravenclaw common room with Sarah and Roxy trying to figure out who she was going to attend the ball with. Roxy of course would go with the guy she was dating, Sam. She didn't have the stress that the other two girls did. 

"I don't know, Rose, but you have a month still."

"A month isn't that long! "

"How about Oliver?" asked Sarah. Rose wrinkled my nose. Oliver was also a Gryffindor in my year, and wasn't particularly the nicest person. Just then, Lysander and Lorcan Scamander walked in the portrait hole. Ly had a very depressed look on his face.

"Hey guys," Rose called them over, "What's wrong Ly?"

"Is it Amelie?" Roxy asked.

"She got asked to the ball today by a sixth year. We've been broken up for two weeks, and she already has another date to the ball. What am I going to do? "

"I'm sorry Ly," Rose said. And then an idea struck. "Hey Ly...would you possibly want to go to the ball with me? As friends of course?

Lysander looked at me and smiled. "You know what Rosie? I would love too. Then maybe at the dance I can win her back!"

"Awesome!"

She finally had a date to the ball. And one that she knew she would have fun with too! Now if only Sarah could find one...

...

...

...

"And if Missy asks me to the ball, then I have to dance with her and she'll try to make a move on me and I don't like her that way! I find her rather annoying!"

Al was sitting at the dinner table with the Gryffindors that night, panicking that he would have to go with Missy to the ball. Apparently Malfoy and his brainstorm session had come up with nothing, and he started to think it was inevitable. 

"I'll have to hide the whole night from her, and then what if she thinks we're dating? And then I'm stuck in a relationship that I can't get out of because she'll curse me if I try to break it off.."

Sarah took a deep breath. "Albus?"

Al stopped mid sentence and looked directly at her. "Yes Sarah?"

"Would you- would you like to go to the ball with me?"

Al was taken aback for a second. Rose elbowed him in the ribs. "Oof, yeah. I'd love to go to the ball with you Sarah."

A grin broke out across Rose's face, and Sarah looked shyly down at her plate. But as her best friend, Rose could tell that inside she was bursting with happiness.

...

...

...

"Is she still glaring at me? She's still glaring at me isn't she?"

Missy was, in fact, still glaring at Sarah from across the dungeons. After Sarah had asked Albus to the ball, she was filled with happiness and nothing was going to bring her down. Until Potions that Monday when Missy wouldn't stop glaring at her while violently stewing her potion.

"Oh Merlin," said Sarah, "She's probably brewing up a death potion for me right now!"

Dom snorted. "She would be the one to mess up Draught of Peace so badly it kills someone." This comment caused the girls giggle, evoking more dagger eyes from both Missy and Jessamine.

Dom stood up her chair. "Hey Missy! Why don't you take a picture it will last longer!" The entire class erupted into laughter, causing Missy and Jessamine to look away in shame. Dom plopped back down. "Well that takes care of that, now we can make our peace juice in peace."

The rest of the class Missy didn't dare look over at them, but it was obvious that Missy was still fuming. Rose didn't think this was something the Slytherin girls were going to drop anytime soon. 


	8. The Remembrance Ball

"OWWW-Dom! Are you trying to make me bald!?"

The day of the Remembrance Ball had come. Dom, Sarah, Roxy, Nicola, and Rose were getting ready in the Gryffindor's dorm room. Lily sat on Rose's bed wistfully watching Rose get her hair done. Dom was attempting to tame her frizzy curls though it looked more like ripping.

"Rose, I need you to stop moving or this will take twice as long," said Nicola, who was trying to put makeup on her. Rose groaned, it seemed like she had been sitting there forever. Sarah was sitting on her bed cross-legged as Roxy helped her pin up her long black hair into a braided bun.

"There done!" said Nicola and she backed away to admire her work.

"I'm almost done with your hair Rosie," muttered Dom, and sprayed a bit more of Madam Brown's Magic Hairspray (the bottle says it will hold your hair for hours, without making it all stiff). Dom stepped back and smiled. "Rosie, before you look in the mirror, put on you dress. I don't want you to see yourself until your complete!"

Rose forced Lily to get up so she could change behind the curtain of her bed. Rose slipped on the dark green dress she had gotten for Christmas. She strapped on her silver high heels, which she could barely walk in. She had no idea how she was going to walk clear down to the ballroom without tripping. Rose put on the silver ball earrings that Dom was letting her borrow, and stepped out of the curtain.

The girls all broke into huge smiles. "Jeez Rose, you don't even look like you!" exclaimed Sarah.

Dom high fived Nicola. "We did our job well."

Rose approached the mirror that Dom had and gasped. In the mirror she saw a gorgeous girl in a silk green one shouldered dress. Her hair was in a side ponytail that fell into perfect red ringlets. Her makeup was simple, but also completed the look. And the girl in the mirror was at least two inches taller than Rose usually was.

"Whoa. Is that me?" Rose asked.

Dom came and hugged her shoulders. "Yes my dear cousin, it is you. Thanks to me, I've unlocked the beautiful girl that was trapped inside your frizzy hair."

Usually Rose would have been offended by this, but she was so happy she just laughed it off. The rest of the girls finished getting ready, and soon all of them were ready to go.

"I'll go see if the boys are in the common room," offered Lily. She opened the door, and ran down the steps. Rose was actually a lot more excited for the ball then she thought she'd be. Of course the dinner wasn't very exciting, and the names of those who died in the battle being read off was always a somber moment. But afterwards was a time for celebrating the years of peace that the world has had since then. For the adults it was a time to socialize with old Hogwarts friends whom they hadn't seen in years. For the teenagers it was a time to dance the night away.

Rose saw that was Sarah was looking a little green and gave her a questioning look. "Sarah what's wrong?"

"Just nerves, I think. I'm afraid something will go wrong. What if I trip and embarrass myself? What if Al spends the whole night with some other girl and I'm left all alone?"

"Well then I will give Al a hearty punch in the mouth. But that won't happen, I promise," Rose reassured, "besides, if anyone's going to trip it's going to be Albus. That boy can't even walk down a hallway without running into something." Lily came bursting back through the doors.

"They are waiting for you ladies," she smiled.

Rose gave Sarah's hand a squeeze, and they all descended down the stairs. That was a challenge itself; Rose's feet were just not meant to be wearing heels. The girls entered the common room to four smartly dressed boys waiting for them.

Lysander grinned at Rose as she walked over. "You clean up pretty good," he said.

"Thanks," she smiled, "You look not so bad yourself."

"Wow Sarah. You look amazing," Albus said beside her. Sarah blushed, and quietly thanked him.

"Shall we go?" asked Ly as he held out his arm.

"Sure, I have to warn you though. I cannot walk in these heels very well." Ly laughed.

"I'll try to keep you steady." Rose took his arm and they headed off to the ball. 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When entering into the ball, the students walked down stairs to the parents waiting below. Then they sat down at a table, usually with their families, and have dinner. Professor McGonagall would stand up and give her speech. The list of those who were lost in the great battle of Hogwarts would be read off, and there would be a moment of silence. After dinner was finished, the band start the music.

Roxy and her boyfriend went first, followed by Dom, Nicola, and then Ly and Rose. She gripped on his arm tightly so she wouldn't stumble. The first faces Rose saw when walking in were her parents. They were standing by her Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, beaming. She glanced around at the familiar faces; her family, classmates, friends of her parents. She saw Lysander's ex-girlfriend staring at them walking down the stairs together. She was definitely jealous, which made Rose extremely happy. Maybe Ly would get her back tonight after all.

Then Rose saw him.

Scorpius Malfoy was staring at her. Not the usual glare of disgust she typically got from him. Not the look he gave her when he was annoyed. He was staring almost like he was taking in her appearance, memorizing every ounce of her. Jessamine was talking to him, but he wasn't paying attention to her. His full attention was on Rose. Rose quickly looked away.

"You look beautiful Rosie!" exclaimed her mother when they reached them. She hugged her and Lysander. Al and Sarah came up beside us, and her mother hugged them too.

It seemed as if everyone in her family and then some came and complimented her appearance. Finally, it was announced for everyone to find their seats for dinner. There was a table at the front where Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, and Rose's mum and dad always sat. This year Ly and Rose sat there, along with Lorcan and his boyfriend, Aunt Luna and Uncle Rolf, and Albus and Sarah. 

Professor McGonagall stood up.

"Thank you all for coming to our 23rd annual Remembrance Ball of the Great Battle at Hogwarts. Once a year, students, current and former alike, come together to meet with old friends, celebrate the victory we had on this day all those years ago, but most of all to remember those who we lost in battle..."

She started to read the list of everyone who had died all those years ago. Rose's dad had told her a few years ago they were going to stop doing that since so much time had passed, but it didn't feel right to anyone so the next year it was back. Tears came to eyes of many of the adults in the room. There wasn't a dry eye when Rose's Uncle Fred's name was read. And Teddy, who was sitting next to Victoire and Dom, was staring at the centerpiece when she said his parents names.

When she was finished there was a moment of silence for all those that had been lost. Then the meal appeared on the table, and smiles slowly returned to everyone's faces.

**. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Dinner was pleasant enough. Rose always loved talking with Aunt Luna, and it was funny watching Ly get so embarrassed about her stories. After dinner, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny started the first dance. Slowly everyone followed.

"Can I have this dance malady?" asked Ly.

"Of course you may," Rose giggled. Lysander wasn't the best dancer. They waltzed around the room, laughing, not caring what they looked like. Afterwards some fast songs came on and the two danced, limbs flailing. Rose saw Amelie glaring at them from where she was sitting. Apparently her date didn't like dancing.

After a half an hour or so, Ly, Al, Sarah, and Rose left the dance floor to take a break. Albus and Lysander went to get us drinks.

"This is a lot better than last year!" Rose said, collapsing into a chair.

Sarah grinned, ear to ear. "Much better! Did you see how close Al held me when we were dancing? I didn't even mind when he stepped on my toes!"

"That boy needs dancing lessons," Rose snorted.

Sarah just sighed dreamily. "I think he's a wonderful..."

The boys came back with the punch, and Rose gulped hers down. They sat there and rested for a few songs, until Amelie approached Lysander.

"Hey Ly, can I talk to you?" Lysander looked at Rose and she nodded. He got up and walked away from the table.

"Sorry Rosie, looks like your date is going to get his girlfriend back," said Al.

"It's alright, I was hoping she would be jealous and realize she wanted him back. They are cute together."

A few minutes later, they came back. Ly approached Rose, while Amelie stayed a few feet away.

"Hey Rose, Amelie and I sort of got back together... do you mind if I dance with her a bit? If you don't want me to, I totally understand I mean I did come here with you..."

Rose got up and kissed him on the cheek. "Go spend the night with your girlfriend. I'll be fine."

He giddily thanked her and ran off with Amelie. A slow song came on, and Albus grabbed Sarah and went out on the dance floor leaving Rose alone. She was ok with it though,; she loved seeing her two best friends together. She was humming to herself, swaying to the music when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Care to dance Weasley?"


	9. The Dance

"What?"

Scorpius Malfoy smirked. "I said will you dance with me?"

Rose stared at him , shocked. "You want me to dance with you? To this slow song?"

"Yes. And you better give me your answer soon, otherwise the song will be over before we have the chance. You do owe me, since I saved your life."

"You didn't really save my life, I wouldn't of died."

"Nevertheless, you still owe me."

Scorpius looked absolutely dazzling. His black suit and silver bow tie almost made Rose weak at the knees. Almost. She slowly reached for his outstretched hand. His eyes sparkled when she took it, and he led her out on to the dance floor. Rose wrapped her hands around his shoulders and he put his arms around her waist. She noticed that he was a lot taller than she had thought, he seemed to tower over her.

"Does your date know that you're off with another girl?" Rose asked as they swayed to the music.

"She had to go to the aid of a friend, and rather waste my time sitting, I thought I'd ask you to dance."

Rose glanced over his shoulder and saw Jessamine glaring at her from a table. A crying Missy was there as well. Great another reason for Jessamine to hate me, Rose thought. She also thought of what everyone would think if they saw her dancing with Scorpius. Her mum and dad would be shocked, they knew that Rose hated him. Sarah would be slightly appalled and but also excited for her because Scorpius is cute. Rose didn't even know what Albus would think.

"What are you thinking about Weasley?" Scorpius asked.

"I just can't believe that I'm dancing with the one person that I loathe more than everything."

Malfoy laughed, "Well you better consider yourself lucky, because I am an exquisite dancer." He grabbed her hand and twirled her around. And he wasn't lying, he was a very good dancer. As the song came close to an end he pulled her closer. She was mere centimeters from him.

He leaned in and put his mouth by her ear, whispering so only she could hear. "You look beautiful tonight Rose." The song ended and he pulled away. He grabbed Rose's hand and raised it to his lips, kissing it ever so gently. "It's been a pleasure dancing with you Ms. Weasley." And with that he was gone. Rose stood there for a minute trying to process what just happened.

"Oh there you are Rosie!" Sarah and Al pushed through the crowd to her. "Were you just dancing with someone?"

"Huh? Oh I...I'll tell you later."

Al looked at her concerned, "Are you ok Rose?"

"Yeah...let's go find the rest of our friends!"

The trio went and found Dom and Roxy and danced to every fast song that came on. During the slow songs Rose danced with various friends of the family. Soon it was the last song of the night. Rose went to grab a drink while all of her friends and their dates swayed together on the dance floor. Malfoy and Jessamine were out there too. She had her head on his shoulder as they rocked back and forth to the music. Rose couldn't see his face, but she could see Jessamine with her eyes closed in sweet bliss.

Suddenly Rose felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. There was nothing more that she wanted than to flee up the stairs and crawl into her bed and cry. But she couldn't do that; not with all of her family and friends here.

When the song ended, she said her goodbyes to my family. She hugged her mum and dad goodbye, and Lysander walked her back up to my room.

"What did you do with Amelie?" Rose asked.

"She's waiting for me downstairs. I told her I was going to walk you to your room and then come right back."

Rose took off her heels as they headed up the staircase. She almost stepped on the trick stair, but Lysander grabbed her arm and helped her over. "I'm sorry that I abandoned you for Amelie. Even if she is my girlfriend, I should of spent my night with my date..."

"It's fine Ly," Rose reassured him, "I was happy enough to give you over to her. You guys make a cute couple." Lysander then started talking about Amelie, and how wonderful she was and how he was so sad after they broke up. Pain washed over Rose again, and she wasn't for sure why. When they reached the common room door, he hugged her goodbye.

"Thanks Rosie, for everything. You're a great friend."

"No problem Ly. See you around." She climbed into the portrait hole to an empty common room. When she got to her room, she changed into my pajamas, vanished her makeup, and took her hair out. Sarah came in moments later.

"Rosie! You'll never believe what jus- are you ok?"

"I'm fine. What were you saying?"

"Albus just kissed me goodnight! Oh Rosie this was the most wonderful and magical evening of my life!"

"Sarah! I'm happy for you!"

"I feel like I'm going to burst of happiness, but I really need to get out of this dress."

"Where's Dom and Nicola?"

"Both with their dates, I doubt they will be coming back tonight. "

Sarah talked with Rose a bit about the night, but exhaustion soon came over them, and they passed out.

...........................

Rose opened her eyes sleepily to sunlight streaming in through the window. She glanced over at her clock. 10:30. This was way too early for her. Her arm was aching because she must have been sleeping on it for hours. She had also just had a really weird dream; James had bought her a magic cow that gave purple milk. 

Sarah was sprawled across her bed, her quilt on the ground. Dom was in her bed; hair sticking up every which way and it looked like she didn't have time to take off her makeup before she fell asleep. Her shoes and dress lay in pile on the floor and her pajama shirt was on backwards. She must have had quite a night. Nicola apparently never came back.

Rose swung her legs over the bed and walked over to the mirror. Yeesh. She grabbed some sweat pants and her hoodie and went to take a shower. Twenty minutes later she emerged, and decided to go find something to eat.

The great hall was empty except for a couple students. Most of the younger students were done eating breakfast, and most of the older were still sleeping. Rose sat down at the Gryffindor table, and a lovely brunch of eggs, toast, and yogurt met me. As she chowed down, someone plopped down across from her. A plate of waffles appeared before him. Her stomach felt that stabbing pain again, the same one she felt last night.

"Hello Weasley, did you have a nice evening? Find a gentleman to spend the night with?" Malfoy asked.

Rose swallowed the piece of toast she was eating. "Actually I had a lovely evening with my pillow. I suppose that you and your girlfriend had a lovely rest?"

A scowl went across Malfoy's face. "Jessamine is not my girlfriend. I'm afraid that was just a one night affair." The pain in her stomach suddenly went away.

"Really?" Rose asked, "because I thought the brainless was your type?"

"Well you thought wrong. I like girls who I can actually carry an intelligent conversation." Rose finished eating her brunch, so she grabbed the jam jar. Scorpius watched her curiously as she started to spread the jam on her empty plate. "What are you doing?"

"Writing 'thank you' on my plate?"

"Why?"

Rose had to think about that for a moment. "Habit I suppose. Mum always had us thank the elves for everything they do for us. "

"But they get paid now, since your mum made it a law to free all elves?"

Rose glanced up at him. "They still deserved to be thanked."

He stared at her for a long time, as if trying to figure out how she worked. Finally he said, "You are an interesting witch Rose Weasley. Now if you excuse me, I have to go wake up Albus. He's been sleeping long enough."

He shoved the last bit of waffle into his mouth, and got up and left. Rose watched him as he walked down the hall, and stopped at a boy hunched over something on the table. It was CJ Creevey. Malfoy bent over and looked at whatever was on the table, and picked what looked like a photograph up. He then said something to CJ, and left.

Rose finished her thank you, grabbed the yogurt she hadn't eaten, and went to see what CJ was doing.

"Hey CJ, what do you have here?"

"Hey Rose, I was the official photographer of last night. You can take whichever ones you're in."

Rose looked at all the pictures CJ had taken. There were ones of couples dancing intimately, friends dancing like maniacs, and even some of parents laughing.

"These are amazing!"

CJ looked really proud. "Thanks! I used my late uncle's old camera, and I think they turned out better than they would if I used a newer model."

Rose plucked up one of Sarah, Dom, Nicola, and her dancing together, throwing their hands up in the air. She also grabbed one of my parents with some of their old DA friends and one of her and Ly laughing as they danced across the hall. Rose figured while she was down here, she might as well grab the ones of Sarah and Al too.

"Thanks so much CJ, maybe you should go into photography!" He smiled and told her that he was planning to.

Rose went back upstairs to find Sarah sitting up in her bed, reading. Dom was still passed out.

"Morning," Rose whispered, "I brought you some yogurt."

Sarah put down her book and caught it. "Oh thank Merlin, I was hungry but didn't have the energy to get out of bed."

"I also brought you some photos CJ took."

Rose sat down on Sarah's bed with her and they looked at all of them.

"That was a really fun night, wasn't it?" Sarah sighed.

"Yeah," Rose smiled, "It was."


	10. To Nana's House

Rose's fifth year at Hogwarts had come and gone. Everyone was finishing packing all of their belongings into their trunks. She reached and grabbed the pile of clothes that had built up under her bed, crumbled them all up, and threw them into her trunk. Dom was sitting on her own trunk trying to get it to all fit. Finally she just shrunk some of her clothes so that she would have enough room to close it.

They all took one last look around the room, partly to make sure they didn't forget anything, but also because they were going to miss it. It was hard to think of going home for a couple of months when they had spent so long here.

As Rose was dragging her trunk down the stairs of the castle, she mentally said goodbye to everything. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like seventh year, when she would be saying goodbye for the last time. Luckily she still had two long years til that.

Dom, Sarah, Nicola, and Rose got into a carriage with Roxy. They all turned around and watched the castle until it was out of sight.

"So what are you doing this summer Weasleys?" asked Nicola.

"We are going to Nana's in two weeks and celebrating Rosie's birthday!" Roxy punched her on the arm.

Every summer all of the cousins spend a week at Nana Weasley's house and the parents would come for the weekend. It was a big family bonding thing that brought all the Weasley siblings back together, plus the Dursleys. Nana insists on them being a part of the family too. This year, Rose's birthday was going to be on that Friday.

They discussed her birthday until they arrived at the station. All of the students boarded the train. Nicola went to sit with her boyfriend, and Dom went off to find the guy she had been talking to. Sarah and Rose found Albus and Lily in a compartment. Scorpius was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the slimy one?" Rose asked.

Al shrugged. "I don't know, he said he was going to find someone and left. I'll see him later anyways."

Relieved that she wouldn't have to see Malfoy, Rose sat down across from them. Rose found that things were still awkward with Malfoy. They still bickered all the time, but she didn't hate him as much as she used to.

The train ride went quickly and soon they were pulling into Kings Cross Station. Rose's mum and dad were waiting at the platform for them. She hugged Sarah and Nicola goodbye.

"See you in two weeks Rosie!" said Dom as she gave me a quick hug, and left to find her parents. As Rose watched her run off, she saw Scorpius in the distance. He was standing next to his father. Draco Malfoy looked like an older version of Scorpius; he was tall, and had the same hair and eye color. Mrs. Malfoy, on the other hand, had jet black hair, though Scorpius seemed to have gotten some of his facial features from her.

Scorpius saw her and gave Rose a little salute. She couldn't help but break out into a smile.

"Who you smiling at Rosie?" asked her dad.

"Just a friend. Can we stop at McDonalds? I've gone too long without eating an Oreo McFlurry." Both of her parents laughed. When her mum was a kid, her and her parents would always stop and eat at a muggle restaurant to celebrate the start of summer. Rose loved the food at school, but there was something about those McDonald's french fries...

**_...two weeks later..._ **

"Rosie! You made it!"

Rose stepped out of the fireplace at Nana Weasley's, dusting off the soot on her. She had been looking forward to coming for the past two weeks. This was her favorite part of the summer, when all of the family gathered at Grandma and Grandad's house.

"Hi Nana! Anyone else here yet?"

"You're the first one dear! Though I suspect the Potters will be coming any moment."

They heard the fire roar behind them, and Hu fell out, with James on top of him. "Oof! Well hello Hu, fancy meeting you here!" The boys got up and dusted themselves off. James looked around. "Hello Nana, Rosie."

The fire came to life once more, and Albus tumbled out. He looked up with a big grin. "Afternoon Nana, Rosie, Hugo. Almost dropped my bag in the trip, that would have been bad. Probably would of ended up in someone's living room!" He came over and gave Nana a hug. Lily appeared in the fireplace, landing with much more grace than her two brothers. Her brilliant red hair had specks of dirt in it, and she wore a grand smile.

"Hello. Are we the only one's here?"

Nana came over and gave her a hug. "Yes, I don't think the others are coming till later. Fred's having the kids work at the store, Molly and Lucy are helping Audrey at the office, and who knows when the rest will show up. Granddad put up the tents last night, so you can drop off your things!"

The kids walked through the kitchen to the backdoor, where outside two tents stood up not far from the house. Albus and James went to the left one, and Lily and Rose ducked inside the right one. Inside was a central sitting area, a small kitchenette, and four bunk beds pressed up against the side. Being the first one's here meant that they got first choice on the beds, so Rose quickly nabbed a top bunk in the corner.

"Rosie! I have a surprise for you!" Nana called from the porch. She threw her bag onto the bunk, and ran outside.

"What is it Nana?"

"We thought we'd give you a little early birthday gift. Go look in the kitchen."

Rose looked at Lily and she just smiled. Something was up. She walked slowly into the kitchen.

"Sarah?!"

Sarah was sitting at the kitchen table with a bag at her feet. "Hi Rose!"

Rose ran to hug her. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come for your birthday! Your grandparents invited me to stay all week here!"

Al and James walked into the kitchen . A blush crept across Sarah's face. Al kicked at the ground. "Hey Sarah."

"Hi Albus. Hi James."

"Glad you made it," James said, "Al hasn't stopped talking about how excited he is that you are staying with us this we-Ow!" Albus kicked James in the shin and gave him a death glare, daring him to say another word.

"Wait you knew she was coming?" Rose asked.

"Sure," said James, "We invited her to make up for-"

"Uhh James, maybe we shouldn't tell her," interjected Al.

"Tell me what?"

James crossed his arms. "Well I think that we should tell her right away, rip off the band aid early."

"Tell ME WHat?"

Al sighed. "Well...Scorpius is staying with us this weekend."

Rose stared at him in disbelief. "What?"

"His parents are going out of town, so he's coming Friday morning. I know it's your birthday, and Scorp and you aren't that fond of each other...but you have Sarah! So it won't be too bad!"

"Come on Rosie, it'll be fun!" said James, "We can pull a prank or two on him to drive him mad!"

"You will do no such thing," said Nana as she walked into the kitchen. "You will all behave yourselves while we have guests. Now Rose, why don't you give Sarah a tour?"

Rose told Sarah to leave her bag in the kitchen, and she'd give her a tour of the house. She showed her each of the rooms where the adults would be staying. When they reached the attic, Rose explained how this used to be were the ghoul lived, but since it died, Nana renovated it to a guest bedroom, and this is where Rose's Uncle Dudley and Aunt Katherine stayed. They came back downstairs and out to the backyard.

"There's the chicken coop, that's the broom shed, and over yonder is a pond. If you go down that path a little ways, you'll find where we play Quidditch. We have bleachers set up and everything. And we will be staying in these tents. Left is the boys, right the girls."

Sarah looked around in awe. "This place is so home-y!"

Rose laughed, "Wait till everyone arrives. It will feel like a zoo!." They went inside the girl's tent and Sarah picked the top bunk beside Rose's so they could talk to each other from the beds.

"So," Rose said, after making sure the boys weren't nearby, "What's the deal with you and Al?"

Sarah sighed. "I don't know! I mean he is nice to me, but I can't tell if he wants to you know, date. Like he hasn't made a move since the Remembrance Ball! That was forever ago!"

"Oh he definitely likes you," Rose reassured.

"Maybe he'll do something this week," she said, "We do have a whole week. But changing the subject, how do you feel about Malfoy staying here for three days?"

"I don't know. I don't think I'll see that much of him, I mean there will be like thirty people here. I just don't want him to make me angry on my birthday..."

"I'm sure he'll be nice to you, remember how nice he was to you at the ball?" Rose had told Sarah all about that night. She was her best friend after all.

"Maybe..." Rose responded. Her feelings toward the subject were very conflicting. On one hand she didn't want him ruining her birthday. On the other hand, deep, deep down, she was actually looking forward to seeing him again


	11. Will and Charlotte

The next morning Rose woke to complete silence. Moments like this were rare during the annual Weasley summer holiday, so she decided to take advantage of it. She quietly went down the bunk ladder, careful not to wake her sleeping cousins. She tiptoed out of the tent and through The Burrow's backdoor. Nana was at the stove making breakfast.

"Good mornin Rose, you're up early."

"Morning Nana, that smells delicious! What are you making?"

"Oh nothing special, I'm just throwing together some eggs and toast." but she smiled to herself as she continued making the eggs. "Jack and Perry should be coming soon this morning. And Teddy sent an owl saying they won't arrive until late afternoon."

Those four were the only cousins who had not arrived yet. Jack and Perry Dursley were actually only related to the Potters. Their dad was cousins with Uncle Harry, but they were still considered part of the family. When Jack first found out he was a wizard, the family all took him under their wing. His whole family hated magic, and in fact he didn't even know it existed until he got his Hogwarts letter.

Rose wandered into the sitting room where Molly was curled up on the couch with a book.

"Good morning Molly, how are you?"

"I'm fine Rose, how are you? How was school?"

"I'm glad the hardest part is over. My dad said that fifth year is the most strenuous."

"Well he is right. I do hope that you worked hard, have you gotten you OWLs back yet? Of course you haven't, you probably won't get them until August. I'm sure you did very well though. Still top of your class right? I have always been very impressed with how hard you work at school, unlike our other cousins. Besides Lily, she's very skilled as well. If only Lucy was as focused on school as Lily..."

Molly tended to have one-sided conversations when talking one on one. It got quite annoying.

"What are you reading?" Rose interjected.

"Oh I'm just rereading Famous Witches through the ages. It's always a good read, and so inspiring. Of course your mother appears in this book, along with Luna and Aunt Ginny. I already know so much about them so it isn't very fun to read, but my favorite story is-"

Lucky for Rose, Jack came tumbling out of the fireplace rescuing her from a tedious conversation. 

"Oof-ello Rose, Molly."

"Morning Jack, isn't it a little early for you to be up? I expect it from Perry, but you usually aren't up until at least 10:30."

Jack stepped out the fireplace, and removed his shoes so soot wouldn't get on Nana's carpet. "Dad and Mum had to work today, and wanted to see us off."

Perry barreled through the fireplace moments later. Perry, who was 13, was buzzing with excitement. "Morning Rose! Molly!"

Rose laughed, "Good morning Per, you seem excited."

Nana Weasley came in from the kitchen. "Oh hello boys, I thought I heard you in here. Have you already had breakfast?"

Rosewent into the kitchen with the boys while they ate their food.

"How has your summer been so far boys?"

Jack swallowed his toast. "It's been alright. Pretty boring actually. Went to work with Dad once at the bank, but it's so boring compared to Gringotts. I told Dad that they should get a dragon to guard the safes."

Rose laughed, Uncle Dudley was fascinated with Gringotts. When the Dursleys came to The Burrow for the first time, they were all surprised at how he became fast friends with Bill. He was always asking Bill questions about Gringotts and how it worked.

As the hour went by, more and more of the cousins walked sleepy-eyed into the kitchen to eat breakfast. Soon it was crowded, and Nana suggested that some of the teens should walk to town to pick up some stuff for her. Simple stuff like more yarn and some groceries. Sarah, Roxy, Dom, and Rose volunteered to go.

"I'll go see if the boys want to go with us," Rose said. James and Fred were still sleeping. 

"Go away." muttered James as Rose pulled open the flap.

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask."

"I don't care because it most likely involves me getting up."

Rose side stepped over the pile of clothes because somehow the boys had already trashed the place in one day. 

"We're are going to walk to town to get some stuff for Nana, do you wanna come?"

Fred shot up. "YEs I mean...yeah I'll go."

James rolled over on his bed. "Dude you realize the chances you run into that girl is slim."

Rose raised her eyebrows.

Fred glared at her. "Shut up Rosie."

"I didn't say anything. I'm still judging you silently, but I'm not saying anything."

James swung his feet over the side of the bed. "Come on lover boy, let's go to town."

...

Walking through muggle towns was always interesting for the lot. Rose lived in Godric's Hallow where many muggles lived and so did James so it never phased the,. Sarah actually lived in London with her parents who were both muggles. The rest of the family was a different story. Fred and Roxy were always so intrigued by the simplicity of the muggle lifestyle. Dom was both appalled and fascinated.

"Rose did you see the girl? What is she wearing? I can't decide if I like it or not?"

James rolled his eyes. "I think we'll leave you guys to pick up Nana's stuff. Come on Fred, let's go." He nudged Fred and Fred gave a smile as they headed off down the street. 

The girls stopped by a small craft store to get some yarn before heading to the grocers. Dom was ogling at a can of hair spray. 

"So muggle hair products don't keep your hair in the whole day? And they don't have any eye shadow that changes to match your outfit?"

"Shocking isn't it?" Rose said sarcastically, "Now where do you think is the baking powder aisle?" She looked around for a sign for the baking supplies, but couldn't see one.

"Can I help you ladies?"

The girls all turned around to see a gorgeous guy smiling at the,.

"Yeah," Sarah said, "We are looking for the baking powder."

Rose noticed that Dom, usually smooth talking, was hanging onto this guy's every word.

"The baking supplies are in aisle seven. I don't think I've seen you guys around here before, are you in town visiting?"

"We are staying at our grandparents for the week. I'm Rose, these are my cousins Roxy and Dominique, and our friend Sarah."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Will."

Dom seemed to snap out of her trance. "How about you guys go get the butter, and Will here can show me where the baking powder is?

Roxy snorted at Dom's less than subtle hint for them to scram. "Sure Dom, meet you up front, " Will held out his arm and Dominique gladly took it. 

"Wow," said Roxy, as they left, "Who would of thought Dom would have a crush on a muggle boy?"

"I think that it's cute," said Sarah.

The trio went and got the butter and then waited at the front for Dom. They waited about five minutes until she appeared giggling at something Will said.

"Well, Dominique is was a pleasure to meet you," he gave a deep bow.

Dom giggled again. "Maybe we can do something together this week?"

Will smiled. "I'd love too." He turned around and disappeared down the aisles. Dom watched lovingly after him. The girls all stared at her.

"What?" she asked when she finally looked at them.

"Oh nothing," Rose said, "I just haven't seen you that hardcore crushing on a guy since...ever."

Dom shrugged, "He's cute."

They checked out the groceries and went to find James and Fred. Finally they saw James through the window of a coffee shop.

"What are you doing, you hate coffee," Rose said when she walked through the doors. James was sitting at a table alone doing a crossword with a frappe in his hand.

James set down his cup. "We aren't here for the coffee. We are here for her." He gestured to the front counter where Fred was in deep conversation with the barista. She had a pretty face and long dirty blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.

Fred leaned against the counter and said something that made the girl throw her head back with laughter. Roxy threw her hands up in the air. "First Dom, now Fred why is everyone crushing on muggles!" Rose quickly clamped her hand over Roxy's mouth. Fred and the girl both turned to look at them.

Dom strode up to the counter. "Hi, Can I get a tall Iced Latte?" The girl went and got Dom's drink, and the cousins all smirked at Fred. He gave returned a death stare. She came back and Dom paid. "Thank you," said Dom," Freddy we are heading back, you coming?"

"Yeah I suppose," said Fred, "I'll see you later?"

The girl smiled and nodded, and then gave the rest of the group a curious look.

They didn't bug him the walk home, but as soon as they walked into the house, Roxy sang out "Freddy's got a girlfriend!"

"I do not!"

"Do too! What's her name?"

Fred blushed. "Her name is Charlotte. She's not my girlfriend, this is only the second time I've met her. It's not like it will turn into a relationship, I never get to see her."

"It better be going somewhere," said James," I spent four dollars on a drink that I hate. But what was it you said about Dom, Roxy?"

Now Dom was blushing. "It's nothing. Just a cute boy I met."

"Jeez," said Al, "I missed out."

"Yeah Al," said James slapping him on the back, "I bet you would of found a nice girlfriend."

Al just laughed. But when Rose turned to Sarah she was not laughing. In fact there were some tears welling up in her eyes.


	12. Albus and Sarah

Victoire and Teddy arrived later that afternoon. The girls plus Albus were sitting outside on the porch, when the two of them apparated in the yard. Victoire looked exactly like her mom. While Dom's hair was strawberry blonde, Vic had silvery white hair. Everyone was excited that the last of the cousins had arrived. The rest of the night was spent laughing and playing games out in the yard. Everyone was having a great time. All but Sarah.

Sarah acted like she was having fun. She half-heartily laughed at the jokes Fred told. She somewhat tried to play ultimate fanged frisbee. She tried to make a conversation with Teddy. But her heart wasn't in it. Rose noticed she was trying to avoid situations with Albus altogether. When Al came and sat by Sarah at dinner, she told Lucy that there was room between them. When he was talking to the people around her, she would wander away from the group. 

Rose wasn't the only one who noticed. Wheels were turning in Dom's head as she studied Sarah and Al. Sooner or later, Dom was sure to do something about it.

And that is why Rose was woken up early that next morning.

...

Rose woke up to Dom poking her. "Rose. ROsee," she whispered, "get up."

Rose sat up groggily, "Wha-"

"SHHHHH! I don't want to wake up Sarah! Come with me..." Rose got up and tiptoed out of the tent with her. They walked into the kitchen where Victoire was sitting at the table drinking some tea. Nobody else was up, not even Nana and Grandpa.

"What do you guys want? And why are you up so early?" Rose asked rubbing her eyes.

Vic took a sip of her tea. " Dom and I got up to do some sunrise yoga. I like to do it every now and then. Afterwards we got to talking and she told me Sarah is having some trouble with Albus. Dom thought you'd be able to explain the story better than her."

Rsoe sat down and told her the story. Even though Rose hated admitting it, she was pretty good at relationship advice. 

"Well she's had a crush on him for some time," Rose begun.

"How long?"

She had to think about that. "I don't know...maybe third year?"

Vic nodded. "Go on."

"Anyways she's always liked him, and I've always told her instead of hiding from him you should just hang out with him because I know Al and he would totally date you. I mean Al never told me if he liked her or not, he doesn't talk to me about those things, but I feel like he would. So then when the Remembrance Ball came around, he was trying to find a date before Missy could ask him so Sarah asked him and he said yes. They had a fabulous evening together and he even kissed her goodnight but since then nada. He isn't making any moves to take it farther."

Vic sat in silence for a moment before making her diagnoses. "I believe that Albus just needs a little nudge. Al is ignorant, anyone can see that. I propose that today we all go swimming at the lake for a bonding time, and we'll push Albus to make the conclusion on his own. If by tonight he hasn't said anything, then we can confront him. Sound good?"

Dom and Rose nodded in agreement. It sounded like a great plan.

...

"We are all going to the lake, whether you like it or not," Victoire announced at lunch, "Yes, even you Molly. It's a tradition."

Dom exclaimed happily, "I'll see if Will wants to come!"

Lily elbowed Fred, "And you can see if Charlotte wants to come too."

"But I don't even know if she's working today, or if she'll be able to get off-"

"Well we'll stop by and ask on our way there!" Lily exclaimed.

All of the cousins got ready to head to the lake. The lake was on the other side of the village. The beach always had noisy kids and rowdy teenagers, so an old friend of Grandpa Weasley, who he used to work with at the Ministry, let the kids swim in a cove on his property. Usually since no one came but family and friends, Teddy would bring his wand and would do all sorts of spells to make it more fun (such as turning the water into a trampoline). But since there was a chance of muggles tagging along, that was out of the question.

"And don't you even think about bringing anything related to magic!" Nana warned. "If I even here that someone thought that they saw a tree turn a lighter shade of brown, I will have you all home scrubbing the floors and doing yard work for the rest of the week and you won't be allowed to leave. Especially you James Potter and Fred Weasley. I know how you work, and don't even think about doing anything behind my back. I will find out."

James and Fred exchanged glances and said in unison, "Yes, Nana." 

She scowled at them at they filed past her out the door. 

...

When the Dom and Rose walked into the grocery store Will was stacking up some display boxes at the front. Will smiled and waved.

"Oh good!" Dom said, "I was hoping you would be here! I was wondering if you would want to go swimming at the lake with my family and me?"

"Sure! I get off in 10 minutes, if you want to wait..."

Next we stopped by the coffee shop, but Charlotte was working the rest of the day. Fred offered to take her out to lunch tomorrow afternoon instead. The rest of the gang headed to the lake while Rose, Sarah, and Dom waited for Will. It wasn't long before he came out, in his casual clothes. 

As they passed to road to the beach, and headed up a beaten path along the edge of the water, Will started getting curious.

"Uhm, are we not going to the beach?"

"Too crowded for us. It's better if we are away from that many people," said Dom. They caught up with the rest of the gang, and Dom started to rattle off names to Will who would not remember half of them. 

The cousins weaved in and out of trees until they arrived at the gate to the property. Teddy unlatched it and they walked to the edge of the cove. There was a rope tied to a tree branch that leaned over the water that Teddy had put up a few years ago so they could jump into the lake. There was a wooden raft tied up in the water which Grandpa had made to dive off of when we were little. It was perfect. And it was all theirs.

Rose had barely put her stuff down when James asked, "Who's doing the inaugural jump? Al?"

Rose turned to Will and Sarah. "It's tradition that everyone has to jump into the lake using the rope."

Sarah's mouth went agape. "I have to?"

"Sorry Sarah," said Roxy, "But it must be done."

Albus climbed up the slope, and grabbed the rope . He backed up and got a running start before jumping into the air and landing into the lake. A second later his head emerged. "It feels great! Who's next?"

"Sarah will," said Victoire.

"Oh I don't know..."

"It's not that bad Sarah, you can do it!" Albus encouraged from the water. Sarah went and grabbed the rope nervously. She took a deep breath before running and jumping into the air, and in one swift movement she let go and landed in the water. She resurfaced and swam toward Al.

"Nice jump!" Al said and gave her a high five. Rose glanced at Victoire who pursed her lips.

...

About an hour later Sarah and Rose were sitting on the edge of the raft talking. Victoire and Louis were having a "who can hold your breath longer" contest. James, Fred, and Roxy were seeing who could do the coolest trick off the rope swing. Molly and Lucy were trying to dig up clams with their feet. Jack, Perry, Hu, Al, Teddy, and Lily were playing Marco Polo. Dom and Will were off who knows where.

Rose watched as Al stumbled around in the water trying to catch Lily.

"You should go play with them," she said to Sarah.

Sarah looked down at her feet, kicking the water. "No thanks."

"Sarah, you need to talk to him."

She looked up and stared at Albus. "If he wanted to go out with me, he would of asked already."

"You don't know that. At least try to have some fun. Maybe if he sees you having playing along, then he'll realize he really likes you."

Sarah sighed. "I'm just not really in the mood to have fun."

Soon it was time to head back for supper. Dom and Will appeared, and everyone got out and dried off. Rose put her arm around Sarah. "It'll all work out. You'll see."

...

At dinner Victoire sat by Teddy and left a space between her and Al. "Sarah! Come sit by me!" Vic called out. Sarah's face turned a little green as she sat down. Vic tried her best to get the two to talk.

"Sarah did you know that Al is going to try out for the Quidditch team next year?"

:How well do you think you did on your OWLs?"

"What is your favorite movie?"

Nothing worked. Sarah kept silent and Al didn't really focus on the questions. Finally Vic asked, "So are you dating anyone right now Sarah? I though Dom mentioned you were seeing someone." Al's head popped up and gave a sideways glance toward the two girls.

"Uhm, no," stammered Sarah, "I am not currently dating anyone."

After awhile Vic was frustrated. She stood up and plainly said, "I'll go fetch dessert. Albus, Rose, will you help me?"

Al, confused, got up and followed Victoire into the kitchen, with Rose right behind him. When the door was firmly shut, Victoire muttered, "Silenco" at the door. Then she turned around and gave Albus a big smack on the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Why are you leading that poor girl on!?"

"What are you talking about?!" Al exclaimed, rubbing his arm.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Sarah? You know the girl that has a crush on you and you acted like you liked her to at the Ball but then ignored her afterwards?"

"Wait..." Al said, "Sarah has a crush on me?"

Vic and Rose exchanged annoyed glances. "Are you daft?" Rose asked.

"No I-, I mean...I don't know."

Vic sighed. "Alright Al, tell me this. Do you like Sarah? As in you would like to have her as your girlfriend?"

"I mean yeah, she's gorgeous...and sweet and funny and..." Al stammered.

"So if you like her," continued Victoire, "then why have you been ignoring her since the Ball?" 

"Well I honestly didn't know she liked me like that. I know we had a great time at the ball, and afterwards I was all caught up in the moment so I kissed her. But then I thought that maybe she was just being nice and I kind of blew the thought away."

Vic shook her head. "Oh my poor ignorant boy, I worry about you. This is what you are going to do. You are going to go in there and ask Sarah to go on a walk with you. Take her down the path by the trees. And then, listen carefully. You are going to apologize. And then you are going to admit your feelings to her, whatever they may be. Understand?"

Al nodded. They grabbed the dessert and went back to the table.

"Sorry it took so long! Rose had to use the restroom and we waited for her," Vic explained.

Al went over to Sarah and said softly, "Sarah will you take a walk with me?" Sarah nodded speechless.

Rose watched as the two walked down the path until they were just a silhouette in the distance. She smiled. Those two would be alright.


	13. Rose's Birthday

That night as soon as soon as Sarah walked into the tent, the girls bombarded her with questions.

"What happened? What did he say?"

Judging by her smile Rose knew that it had went well.

"Well first he apologized to me for sort of ignoring me after the ball. And for being a bloody idiot for not knowing I liked him and not asking me out earlier."

"He didn't know you liked him?" Roxy asked raising her eyebrows. "He is a bloody idiot."

Sarah just smiled. "Then he told me that he really liked me. And he took my hand and said if I minded if we skipped the going on a few dates portion and went straight to me being his girlfriend."

"Are you serious?" Vic asked, "That's pathetic."

"I didn't mind. We have already hung out, and already know a lot about each other. Anyways I said yes I'd love to be his girlfriend. Then we just sort of kept walking and talked a little bit about everything."

"That is so cute!" squealed Dom. Everyone agreed. It was about time those two got together.

...

Thursday went by fast. Dom was gone most of the day with Will. Fred went on his date with Charlotte. It must of went well because he was practically frolicking when he returned. Al and Sarah spent a lot more time together, though they both made sure to make room for Rose. After all, Sarah was here for her birthday.

That night when Rose was lying in bed, she was super excited about her birthday. HEr entire family would be coming. Her best friend was going to be there for it for the first time. And for a flitting moment she was almost happy that Scorpius was coming too.

...

"Happy Birthday Rose!"

Rose walked into the kitchen to see a big stack of blueberry pancakes on the counter for her. Nana was cooking up a storm.

"Thanks Nana! Blueberry pancakes are my favorite!"

"It was no trouble dear, eat up!"

Lily came flouncing in from the living room. "Happy Birthday Rosie! How does it feel being 16?"

"Fels graat," she said with her mouth full of pancake.

A few other cousins came wandering in giving her birthday wishes. Rose went into the sitting room and curled up on the couch to talk to Lily. 

The fire roared to life which could mean one of two things. Number one: One of Rose's relatives decided to take the floo network instead of apparating. Or two: Malfoy had arrived.

Unfortunately it was the latter.

"Hello Weasley. Happy Birthday. Finally as old as the rest of us." Malfoy had his famous smirk on his face that made Rose's stomach flip over.

"Thank you Malfoy." she said curtly.

Nana Weasley came walking in from the kitchen.

"Oh hello Scorpius, dear. Have you had breakfast?" Scorpius nodded. Rose volunteered to go wake up Albus.

Soon all the family was up and chatting, so Rose didn't have to talk to Scorpius again all morning. She got many birthday wishes from all of her cousins. Not long after the other relatives started apparating into the yard, and the Dursley's pulled into the driveway.

Everyone gathered in the living room so Rose could open her presents. Her parents surprised her and got her a new broom. It wasn't the best, since Rose didn't actually play Quidditch; she just used it for fun, but she loved it anyways. Afterwards the family gathered out at the clearing that was used for the "Quidditch pitch". First just the cousins played; Rose was on Perry's team with Roxy, Lily, Albus, Louis, and Lucy. James was the opposite team (since Perry and James were the two best Quidditch players) with Scorpius, Teddy, Dom, Fred, Jack, and Hugo. 

After that game, it was time for parents versus kids. The cousins brainstormed the best players for the team. James and Perry were obvious,as they were the best Quidditch players at Hogwarts, as was Fred and Roxy since they both played as well. Scorpius was debated to be on the team, but it was decided that only relatives should play. The final three was determined to be Albus, Teddy, and Lily.

The parents team consisted of Charlie, Harry, Ginny, Angelina, George, Bill, and Rose's dad. It seemed a little unfair considering how much more experience Ginny had, but the cousin's still had a fighting chance. The quaffle was thrown into the air, which was immediately snatched up by Roxy. The game had been going on for a good hour, when James spotted the snitch. He raced against his dad, trying to get to it first. James reached out his palm and snatched it before his dad could get to it. The cousins had won.

The night was celebrated with some cake and fireworks. Every year George Weasley would bring a package of Freddy's Fireworks. Fred and Roxy would spend an entire week planning out the show, and then Uncle George would help them make it. Then they would sell it at the store. This year was even better than the last. A brightly lit circus of animals galloped through the sky.

Rose hadn't talked to Malfoy since that morning. She was sort of glad; she didn't want to talk to him because then her stomach would do somersaults and she wanted to squash that feeling. But then she would catch herself constantly looking to where he was at.

Unfortunately that night, she would be in close proximity to him. And Rose was very nervous.

That night was the annual Truth or Dare.

...

"Welcome Sarah and Scorpius to the Weasley-Potter-Dursley Truth or Dare!" Dom said as the boys filed into the girls' tent and sat on the floor in a circle. Sarah sat nervously beside Rose. Al came in and smiled as he plopped down beside her.

Sarah leaned in and whispered to Rose. "How bad is this going to be? You know I hate truth or dare..."

"It'll be alright. Teddy is the judge, and I told him to veto anything that you're not comfortable with." Sarah sat back, still looking unsure.

"Ok," said Vic, "I know that you all know the rules, but since we have newbies this year, you're going to hear them again. Teddy is the judge per usual. He will decide if the truth is too nosy or if the dare is too dangerous. There will be no dares that will cause physical harm or dares that will break the house. We do not need to repeat The Incident of three years ago."

"My arm still hurts from scrubbing," Fred said, rubbing his arm.

"Also, there is no daring someone to answer a truth," James said pointedly.

Victoire smiled. "That too. Shall we begin?" Everyone nodded their heads. Victoire's eyes traveled around the circle before landing on Hu. "Hugo! Truth or Dare?"

Hugo shuffled uncomfortably. "Uhh truth?"

"Come on Hu, don't be a pansy," said Fred shoving him slightly.

"Have you had your first kiss yet?"

Hugo's face turned so red it almost matched his hair. "Yes."

Everyone looked at Rose, but she was as surprised as them.

Victoire eyes light up. "Who?!"

"Hey, that wasn't the question! You don't have to answer it, Hu." said James.

Victoire frowned and turned to Teddy.

He shrugged, "Sorry Vic, James is right. Hugo, you may continue on."

Hugo chose Albus who immediately chose dare.

"I dare you to try on one of Dom's dresses." Albus started to protest, but was shut down. He reluctantly let Dom pick out a lovely yellow sundress for him, and came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. They all got a hearty laugh out of that one.

Albus chose Lily as the next victim. Lily graciously accepted telling the tent that she had once dated a Hufflepuff boy for two weeks without telling anyone. They all stared dumbstruck at her, but she just smiled.

After a couple more rounds, James finally chose Sarah. Sarah looked nervously at Rose, before deciding on a dare.

"I dare you to kiss Albus. See I gave you an easy one! Since you two are dating now, it should be a breeze."

Albus started to protest. "Now wait, Sarah shouldn't have to do anything she's no-" Albus was interrupted by Sarah crashing her lips onto his. This was followed by jeers from the rest of the tent. When Sarah pulled back, Albus sat there dumbstruck.

"Fred." Sarah said calmly, "Truth or Dare."

Fred, of course, chose dare as well. Rose helped her come up with daring him to eat an un-sweet sweet from Weasley Wizard Wheezes. It was a gag to give to people; starts off with nice flavor like cherry and then unexpectedly turns to a nasty flavor like cockroach. Fred got a raw fish one.

"If you don't mind," Fred said, spitting on the ground trying to get the taste out, "I'd like to include both Scorpius and Rose into my dare."

Rose looked at Teddy who said, "I suppose it depends what it is."

"I dare you Rose, to go outside with Scorpius and get some apples for us. But with a binding spell so you are bound together at the wrist and ankle."

Rose looked at Scorpius, and never one to back down from a dare said: "I'm game." His eyebrows went way up. They both stood up and put their wrists and ankles together. Teddy muttered the binding spell and then Malfoy and Rose were stuck together. Unable to move without the other. Fred handed Rose a bag to put the apples in.

"Ok, we'll go tied foot, untied foot, tied foot, ready?" They slowly stumbled toward the exit of the tent.

"Good Luck! Bring me back a big juicy one!" Roxy called.

The apple tree was at the far in of the yard, about 100 yards away. For a while the two were both silent. Then Malfoy interrupted the peace.

"You have a nice family Weasley."

Rose mumbled, "Yeah they are pretty nice."

"Where did they go wrong with you?"

She pinched his arm.

"Oww! Like that! I don't see the rest of your cousins getting upset over a little joke. I joke with Al all the time."

"That's because Al is Al."

They walked a couple more yards. Rose was already getting sick of being bound to him, and her wrist was starting to itch.

"So your best friend and my best friend are dating..." started Malfoy, "You realize this means we will probably be seeing a lot more of each other..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you know if those two are always hanging out with each other, and we want to spend time with them too. It's inevitable. We are going to have to be in each other's company."

"Malfoy, I am not going to spend one more moment with you than I have to. And Sarah knows that and respects that. Now keep walking, we are almost there."

The pair finally made it to the apple trees and Rose reached up with her free hand to grab apples and put them in the bag. This proved to be extremely challenging because not only was it pitch black so Rose couldn't' see the apples, but Malfoy was tugging at her with his other arm while he was trying to pick.

"Malfoy will you stop pulling on me, I'm trying to pick an apple over here."

"Well I'm trying to get the apples over here Weasley. Can you even reach the branches?"

She snarled at him under my breathe. She hated when people made comments on my height.

"Seriously Malfoy, if you don't stop tugging on my arm, I will hex your wrist away from mine."

"Nice try Weasley, I know you don't have your wand. And I doubt that you would even know the proper hex considering your grade in Defense Against the Dark Arts..."

If Rose wasn't tied to him, she would have given him a good hard shove. But unfortunately if she were to push him, she would fall too.

Finally they gathered enough apples to satisfy the hungry cousins. The two started the slow walk back to the tent. Malfoy continued to talk as they went.

"That's a nice broom you got for your birthday, Weasley. Going to try out for the Quidditch team this year? Though I saw you play today, and you weren't particularly good...I suppose it would help having a relative as the capta-"

Rose tripped on a tree root that was sticking out of the ground. She felt herself falling to the ground and hitting it hard. She pulled Malfoy with her and he sort of caught himself with one hand before he could land on top of her.

"Wow Rose," said Malfoy, hovering over her, "You can't even walk right."

"MALFOY WILL YOU FOR ONCE SHUT YOUR MOUTH?"

Malfoy just responded calmly, "And why would I do that Weasley when it's so much fun to see you mad?"

"YOU BETTER GET UP THIS INSTANCE OR I SWEAR I WILL CURSE YOU INTO OBLIVION. I DON'T EVEN CARE IF I GET EXPELLED BECAUSE THERE IS NO ONE THAT I LOATHE MORE THAN YO-"

At that moment Rose was silenced into shock. Because at that moment Malfoy smashed his lips onto hers before she could even register what was happening. And for a second time seemed to slow down. She didn't have a single thought in her mind, and then he pulled away and a million rushed in.

Rose lay there, shocked, but she overcame it quickly and demanded, "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

Malfoy chuckled, "Rose Weasley, I never thought you'd be the one to curse."

Malfoy made no move to get up from above her. She stared at him in the dark. Although she couldn't see him very well, she could picture what he looked like. His hair was probably falling over into his eyes, which were most likely shining because he knew he left me flustered. And there was a 99% chance that he had that stupid smirk on his face.

"That didn't answer my question."

"I wanted to shut you up. And it obviously worked. Face it Rose Weasley, I leave you speechless."

Rose's face started to get red with anger again. "You know what Malfoy, you-"

She was cut off again, but this time by Fred poking his head out of the tent.

"What is all the noise-are you guys on the ground?"

Scorpius suddenly sat up tugging Rose along with him.

"Rose tripped, because unfortunately she doesn't know how to walk. Luckily the apples did not spill."

Fred laughed and said, "Well hurry up, we want to get on with the game!"

Scorpius had to help Rose up off the ground. As soon as they got into the tent, Rose held out their hands to be unbound. Teddy waved his wand, and she was free. Rose retook my seat by Sarah, and refused to look at Scorpius the rest of the night. She had a feeling he was looking at her though.

She was still fuming when she went to bed, and promised Sarah that she would tell her why in the morning. But as she was trying to fall asleep, she couldn't help but play the kiss over again in her head. Over and over again.


	14. Rose's Fear

"Let's go over this one more time."

Rose groaned. Sarah and Rose were sitting up in a tree far away from the house. Since she was Rose's best friend, as soon as Malfoy and Rose walked into the tent last night, she could tell something was up by the look on their faces. Rose refused to talk to her about it until they were far away from any family member, and then even climbed a tree just to be sure.

"Sarah, this is the fifth time I've told you-"

"I know! But I just want to make sure I get this straight. So you tripped and he fell with you. And then you were arguing..."

"And then we were arguing and he said he thought it was fun to see me mad. And then I was ranting about how much I hate him and before I knew it he was kissing me!"

"And what was your reaction when he did this?" Sarah was starting to sound more like a psychiatrist than a best friend.

"Well I was shocked obviously..."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"What?" Rose looked at her stunned.

"Well did you enjoy it when he kissed you?"

Rose was taken a little aback. "Well, I mean it was over so quickly I didn't even realize what was happening..."

"I see," said Sarah, "Proceed."

"He told me that he kissed me to shut me up. And then Fred came out. That's it, haven't talked to him since."

In fact, she hadn't so much looked his way since then. The thing was he acted like nothing happened, and that almost irritated Rose more. He sat at breakfast only glancing at Rose when she was talking. It was completely puzzling to Rose how she could be dying inside and he was not affected at all.

...

That afternoon we went shopping in groups, so Rose didn't have to face Malfoy. At dinner she made sure to sit as far away from him as she could. But then Vic came up with the idea of going for some nighttime swimming. Of course some of the parents put up a fuss, but Vic reminded them that all of the cousins were old enough to take care of themselves, and that her, Teddy, and Molly were all adults and could watch over the younger cousins. 

They took a bunch of Uncle Fred's light orbs with them (perfect for sneaking around, one tap and the light would turn off). This was little comfort to Rose. She had always been a little freaked out by the dark. Once when she was little, a Knarl jumped out at her when she was playing hide and go seek outside with Al and James. The only people who know of her fear was Sarah. If the cousins knew, she would never hear the end of it. Rose made sure on our walk to the lake to stay near James who held one of the lights.

This time at the lake with Sarah and Albus was completely different than a few days ago. Whereas before they would barely speak to each other, now they were laughing and flirting together in the water. Rose decided to give them there space. They deserved some alone time.

Instead she sat on the raft alone with her feet dangling over the water. She didn't really feel like getting in, andsheI didn't want to play marco polo with the other cousins because of the fear of wandering around in dark water at night. So instead she just kicked the water back in forth. Rose was dazing off and she didn't hear Malfoy creep up beside her.

"Well well if it isn't the loner Weasley-"

Rose jumped about a foot. "Jeez Malfoy don't sneak up on me like that!"

He pulled himself up onto the raft beside her. "Daydreaming about me again?" he asked smirking.

"Maybe in your dreams."

"So what are you doing over here all alone? Don't want to join in on the fun?"

Rose looked nervously at where she thought the others were probably at. She could only see their silhouettes.

"I'd rather stay on the raft with the light orb. Why aren't you playing?"

He shrugged. "I'm not really that good of friends with your cousins except for Al. And he's probably in some secluded place with his girlfriend, and I'd rather not accidentally stumble upon that."

Rose nodded. "That sounds reasonable."

They sat there for a little bit not talking. It seemed to be a pattern lately; the two of them having awkward silences. Finally he broke the quiet.

"Now Weasley about that kiss last night-it really was just to make you mad, it didn't mean anything as much as I know you wanted it too."

"Please, your kiss did only that; make me mad. I hated it, and I would appreciate it if you kept your disgusting face away from mine from now on."

Malfoy grinned. "I bet you enjoyed it Weasley."

"Well, I didn't. But I bet you wish I did, because I bet you want to kiss me again."

"Now you're the one dreaming Weasley." Then Malfoy grabbed her wrist unexpectedly and jumped off the raft pulling her with him. When Rose resurfaced she glared at him, but he just laughed. She couldn't help but laugh too and splashed him in the face.

That night was the first time that Rose actually enjoyed Malfoy's company. They had a lot of fun messing around in the water. Rose would make her way up on the raft and he would grab her ankle, pulling her back over. He would stand up declaring himself King and Rose would tackle him, making both fall into the water below. The time flew bye and soon Molly decided that it was time to head back before the parents got worried.

On our walk back, Malfoy and Rose were at the end of the group walking up the trail. They were arguing about what was the best type of antidote for poison spider bites.

"Weasley, it's obvious that you are going to want to put some aloe vera on it from the Fay Aloe Plant. It has the properties of normal aloe vera, but expels foreign substance!"

"Malfoy you do realize that potions is my best subject. It's obvious that putting a crushed up bezoar mixed with some water will work much better."

"And you are just going to have a bezoar on hand?"

"Like you would have some Fay aloe vera?"

Rose then noticed that the group must have gone way ahead of them. She started to panic a little inside. They were walking through some wooded area, and she would have felt much safer in a group.

"Malfoy, where did the rest of the group go?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, they must of gone another way or something. Why?"

"We should try to find them. I don't want to get lost."

"We won't get lost, I know how to get back. Why what's the big deal?"

"It's n-nothing."

"Weasley...are you afraid of the dark?"

"I'm not afraid of the dark...just what might be in it."

Malfoy stopped in his tracks. "Wow Weasley I never thought of you to be one afraid of the dark. You realize how many opportunities this opens up for me?"

A branch snapped nearby and Rose jumped closer to Malfoy. She was completely terrified and it was completely obvious.

Malfoy then did the opposite of what she thought he would do.

"Rose, you're really scared aren't you? Here come closer to me. I'm not going to let anything hurt you."

She moved closer to him so her arm was touching his.

"But you didn't seem scared the other night when we we're on the dare?"

Rose shivered. "Trust me, I was. I just don't let it show easily, or else my cousins will never let me live this down. Plus we were not that far from the house."

Scorpius started rambling on about Quidditch to try to get her mind off of the noises that were coming through the woods. When there was a loud snap nearby, Scorpius put his arm around her reassuringly. Before she knew it they were back at the Burrow. Scorpius took his arm off of her and they walked up to the family who were sitting around in the yard.

"There you guys are! Where did you guys go?" shouted Dom when she saw them. Sarah raised her eyebrows really high.

"Rose, as usual, was arguing with me and we got a bit lost," said Scorpius, "But no need to worry, we got back without seriously injuring each other."

The others laughed, and Rose excused herself to the tent. She was absolutely exhausted and ready to turn in early.

...

Rose's mum, dad, and Hugo were all leaving around noon the next day. They were the second group to go after Uncle Percy and his family. While everyone was finishing up lunch, Rose ran back to the tent to pack up my things. As she was leaving Scorpius was heading to the boys tent to do the same.

"So I suppose I'll see you in September...unfortunately," Scorpius added as if it was an afterthought.

"Yes I'll see you when I'm giving you a detention for snogging some poor girl in a closet," Rose smirked. He just smiled and shook his head. She looked at my shoes. "Thanks by the way."

"For what?"

His voice had gotten softer and Rose looked up. He was genuinely looking at her with curiosity.

"For last night. For not making fun of me for being afraid of the dark."

"Of course. I'm not going to tell Albus by the way."

"Thanks," she said relieved, "Well I suppose I better get going..."

"Yeah. See you around Weasley, and then he flashed one last grin and disappeared inside the tent. Rose stared after him for a moment before she heard her mom shout.

Reluctantly she grabbed her bag and headed inside so she could go home.


	15. Diagon Alley

One sunny August morning, Rose was calmly eating some cereal when she heard a peck at the window. An unfamiliar owl sat at the ledge with a large parcel tied to its leg.

"Rosie! I bet that is your OWL results!" Rose's mom scurried over to the window to let the owl in. The old grey owl flew in and landed on the kitchen table. Rose carefully untied the parcel, nervous to see her results. Her eyes scanned the page, and looked up with grin.

"How did you do?" her mother asked anxiously.

"See for yourself."

Her mother grabbed the paper and cried out, "Oh I'm so proud of you Rosie! Ronald! Come in here you daughter just got back her OWLs, and she got Outstanding in every class!"

Rose's father came into the kitchen."Really? That's better than your mum Rose! Congratulations!"

The owl on the table hooted impatiently.

"Oh that's right! Now where did I put the owl treats. Ron did you move them again?"

"Now why would I move them Hermione?"

As her parents bustled around the kitchen, arguing about who did what with the owl treats, Hugo reached across the table and grabbed the other papers in the parcel.

"Oh cool our supplies list are here."

"Maybe we can go shopping next Saturday," said their mother. She finally found the owl treats, turns out Rose's dad must of moved them to the pantry by accident. She handed one out to the owl who snatched it up and flew out the window. "I'll have to call up Ginny and Katherine and see if they want to go with us."

The Potters always went school supplies shopping with them, and ever since Jack started school, so did the Dursleys.

Rose was excited to be going back to Hogwarts again soon. She missed her mom and dad while she was away, but there was something about that dark castle that felt like home to her. She missed seeing her friends every day, and waking up in her bed in her dormitory. She missed going to the library to and picking up a random book off the shelf and then spending all day reading in the bay window on the fourth floor; the window that happened to have a perfect view of the Quidditch pitch. And she especially missed having her wand stowed away in her pocket. It took all of her will power not to sneak into her mom and dad's room and try to break open the drawer where Hugo and her wands were stored for the summer.

When Saturday arrived, Hugo was almost bouncing off the walls excited to go. Rose tried to play it cool, but she was just as excited as Hugo was to get her school supplies. 

...

When Saturday came, everyone all gathered in the living room around the fireplace. Rose's dad went first followed by Rose. 

Rose spoke clearly "Diagon Alley", and felt herself being flown through the floo network. Her dad always told the kids a story of how their Uncle Harry once did not speak clearly and ended up in Knockturn Alley by mistake. He also said that Harry had to fight his way out of a group of snatchers trying to kidnap him, but Rose figured he made that up so the kids wouldn't get tempted to go near Knocktrun alley.

Rose stumbled out of the fireplace, and Hugo and their mum were not far behind. As soon as they stepped onto the main street, Rose spotted the Potters and Dursleys sitting at a table in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

Lily ran over and gave Rose a hug. "Rosie I haven't seen you in like a month!"

"I missed you too Lil, but in a couple weeks we'll go back to seeing each other every day and you'll wish you wouldn't see me for a month."

Lily laughed, "I could never get tired of seeing you Rose!"

The first place they stopped was Flourish and Blotts to get their new books. Rose's mum put them in her purse (which Perry calls her 'Mary Poppin's Bag'. Rose had never seen that movie, but her mum always laughed when he calls it that) and they headed over to the Apothecary to get potion supplies and such. Then the group split up so they could get various items. Uncle Harry and Rose's dad went to Gringotts so they could extract some money for the kids for the year. Rose's mum and Aunt Katherine went to get some new robes for Hu and the Dursley boys. And Aunt Ginny, Lily, James, Al, and Rose went to the Quidditch shop.

"Mum can I get a new broom?"

Al looked wistfully at the case of a new Firebolt 750 gleaming in the window.

"What for dear?" Ginny asked, looking at a pair of gloves with James.

"Well I was thinking about trying out for the team this year..."

James snorted, and Ginny smacked his arm. "How about if you make the team, your dad and I will buy you a new broom?"

Al seemed content with this, and Rose was sure he would be practicing a lot to make sure he made the team 

"Mum come look! They have a poster of you!"

They all followed Lily's voice to the back of the shop where old posters were hung up on the walls of famous Quidditch players. Sure enough, Aunt Ginny's face smiled down at them wearing her Holyhead Harpies uniform. Beside her was a picture of Victor Krum , an old friend of Uncle Harry's. And apparently Krum dated Rose's mum once.

"Look how young I am! Those were lovely days, back before I had kids." Aunt Ginny ruffled Al's hair. James made a face at her. "Kidding, come on, let's go meet the other's at Uncle George's.

...

Rose had always loved the feeling of walking into Weasley Wizard Wheezes. The colorful shelves gleamed with gags and gadgets. There was always a crowd of people surrounding a new product of theirs and the occasional classic such as the love potions.

Uncle George was standing on the stairs pointing to a customer where a product was. When he spotted the gang he broke out into a grin and waved them over.

"Look who it is! My one and only sister Ginny Weasley-Potter and her children! Plus my other niece who I'm 78% sure is not a Potter..."

"The rest are coming," Rose laughed.

"Good, now since I'm a generous and obviously your favorite uncle, I've decided to let all my nieces and nephews pick one item on me."

Lily and Rose both hugged him. "Thanks Uncle George!"

They headed into the crowd to find their one item. Rose looked through the laughing, love, and lust potions. She passed over the fake wands and hats that turned into birds. Finally she found what she was looking for. The new patented _Heart's Desire Candy Hearts_. If someone where to eat one of the candy hearts, whatever they desired at the moment, whether it be food or to sleep or to tell someone that they look like an ogre, they will stop at nothing to make it happen. The cousins had Albus eat one at the time with hilarious results. It turns out he really wanted to punch James in the stomach (which was no surprise since James had just been teasing him), and they had to restrain him until the effects wore off 5 minutes later.

The day was getting late, and it was soon time to head home. The family said their goodbyes to Uncle George, and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. On the way back, Rose grabbed some cookie dough explosion ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour which was now ran by the late Floerean's granddaughter. Ice cream in hand, they headed back home.

...

"Rose! You better wake up we are going to leave for the station in an hour and half!"

Rose groaned in response. Her bed was so comfy, and she didn't feel like getting out of it yet. But then she remembered she needed to finish packing, so she reluctantly got up. Her trunk lay open in the corner of my room, half stuffed with clothes. After getting ready for the day, she glanced around room grabbing stuff that she needed to take with her. Her broom care kit. The book she was reading. The unicorn figurine that was walking across her desk protested as she set it under her sweater.

She doubled checked that she had everything, and she realized that she had forgotten her jumper. She scrambled around the room trying to find it. She looked in her closet and in her dresser and finally under her bed. She stuck her hand under the bed and felt around. Finally her hand closed around something soft which she was hoping was her jumper. When she pulled, out came her jumper along with an assortment of things. Some toffees, a scarf, and the photograph of Malfoy that he had given to her last Christmas of him smirking, and that he also put a charm on it so she wouldn't be able to rip it up. She threw it into her trunk. Perhaps she could tape it onto a troll doll and give it to him as a gift, or maybe sell it to one of those third years that were always in love with him.

"Rose! It's time to go, do you have everything?" her mum asked when she poked her head in the door.

"I think so, just need to grab my broom."

Rose's mum walked in and handed Rose her wand that. She gladly took it back. It was going to be great to get back to Hogwarts.


	16. Hogwarts Express

Rose had just ran through barrier at King's Cross Station and onto the platform when she heard someone shout her name. The Potters were standing not far away waving her over. She steered her large cart that way, her brother and parents behind her. 

"Ready for your 6th year at Hogwarts?" asked Uncle Harry. "You're officially a NEWT student."

"Of course she is ready," said Rose's father, "She's going to dominate at every class, just like before. No offense Al."

Al shrugged and continued looking around the station. "Rose have you seen Sarah yet?"

"Not yet, but that's my best friend so I reserve the right to hug her first-Sarah!"

Rose ran to her best friend and hugged her. They hadn't seen each other in weeks. Albus was not far behind, his hands shoved in his pocket.

"Hey," he said looking awkwardly.

Sarah blushed, and said, "Hi." Rose rolled my eyes.

"Jeez you two get a room," said James, coming up behind them.

Rose shoved him. "Hush it, you have the whole year to give them crap." She paused to look at her elder cousin. "James, what are we going to do without you next year?"

James grinned. "Oh don't you worry, by the end of the year, you'll be glad to get rid of us. Fred and I plan to go out in a bang."

"Well it will have to be pretty incredible, your Uncle Fred and I had a pretty impressive exit if I do say so myself." The cousins turned around to see Uncle George and his family. Aunt Angelina smacked his arm.

"Don't encourage them George. They need to stay out of trouble if they want to stay on the Quidditch team." She turned to James, "You are never going to the pros if you get expelled from school. Remember that."

"McGonagal would never expel a Potter," James smirked, giving Fred a fist bump. Aunt Ginny smacked him upside the head. "Oww," he protested, "Child abuse." 

The whistle blew, signaling it was almost time to go. The students quick loaded up their trunks, and said goodbye to the parents. The whistle blew again, and they all ran to get on board. Albus lead the way down the train aisle, looking for an empty compartment. Finally Al shouted, "Here's Scorp, let's join him."

Everyone filed into the compartment, but as Rose walked through the door, the train lurched forward sending her flying.

Straight into Scorpius's lap.

Scorpius looked at her amused. "I'm sorry Weasley, but this seat is already taken."

She quickly scrambled up and onto the seat next to him.

Her stomach dropped when she looked at him again. She hadn't seen him since that day in June, and she had almost forgotten how attractive he was. My heart was melting just looking as his smirk. Ick, she thought to herself, those thoughts needed to leave her head.

Not wanting to look embarrassed, Rose sat up straight and said, "Please Malfoy, I bet you would enjoy me sitting on your lap."

"I never said I wouldn't."

That comment made her freeze, but then she saw Scorpius's face and saw that she had given the exact reaction he was hoping for. Lucky for Rose, Albus asked Malfoy how his summer went. Lily and Hugo had disappeared to meet their friends, as well as Fred and James. Roxy went to find her boyfriend, so it was just the four of them in the compartment.

Rose decided she might as well use the extra room and she stretched out on the seat, resting her feet in Malfoy's lap.

He raised his eyebrows at her and said, "Do I look like a footrest Weasley?"

"Yep" she smirked, not moving. Surprisingly he shrugged and rested his arms over them, letting Rose keep them there.

Albus and Scorpius soon got into a debate on who was the better Quidditch chaser in professional in the pros. Rose glanced over at Sarah who was giving her one of those looks that said what are you doing.

Rose gave her a look back that said I have no idea what you're talking about.

Sarah gave Rose a look that said I don't believe you for a moment.

They went back and forth like this for awhile until Sarah rolled her eyes and gave Rose a look that said we are going to discuss this later.

There was a sharp rap on the door and everyone glanced up to see Jessamine and Missy standing at the door.

"Hey boys, did you have a good summer?" asked Jessamine, "I've missed you Scorp." She gave him a flirty smile before noticing that Rose's feet were on Scorp's lap. Her lips puckered the tiniest bit in disgust.

"We were wondering if you wanted to come and sit with us and the other Slytherins," said Missy, twirling a purple streak in her hair.

Sarah sunk back into the seat a little more; Rose raised my eyebrows at Albus to see what he was going to do, but he kept silent. Finally Scorpius piped up, "Sorry ladies but I think we are comfortable where we're at thanks."

Both girls gave a disappointed smile before disappearing. Rose turned and glared at Al.

"I think I'm going to change into my robes," said Sarah, "I'll be right back." She got up and exited the compartment. Rose angrily turned to Albus.

"What did I do?" asked Albus, confused.

Malfoy sighed, "I'll handle him. You go make sure Sarah's not mad."

Rose nodded and got up, leaving Scorpius to explain to Al why he was a git.

She found Sarah by the lavatory.

"You alright Sarah? "

"You didn't have to follow me, I'm not upset with him. I mean it would of been nice if he would of mentioned to Missy that he had a girlfriend now, but I suppose Al doesn't think like that." Sarah sighed, "But the good thing that came out of that encounter was their faces when they saw you had your feet resting on Scorpius's lap!"

Rose laughed, "That was amazing! And gives me an idea..." Rose's face broke in a grin.

Sarah looked at her apprehensively.

"That's a sure way to get rid of them quickly right? With you dating Albus, they won't dote on him because he'll be giving you all of his attention probably. We'll work on that. And if I can just keep Malfoy's attention when they are near, then they won't come near us at all!"

Sarah stared at her" Are you sure that you don't just like Scorpius's attention? Because maybe you have a crush on him?"

"No! I hate Malfoy! But not as much as I hate Jessamine and Missy, and at least I can have fun pestering Malfoy in the process."

Sarah still looked unsure but said, "Alright, we'll try this out..."

"Great!" Rose took her arm as they headed back to the compartment. "This is going to be so much fun to torture them!" 

...

When the girls go back, Albus stood up and said:

"I'm sorry Sarah for not declaring that you were my girlfriend to Missy and Jessamine. I want you to know that I'm not ashamed to admit that you are my girlfriend, and if you want I would run up and down the corridor of this train proclaiming to everyone that you are mine."

Sarah laughed and gave him a hug. "That's quite alright, you needn't do that."

Rose sat back down next to Scorpius and said "Nice work, with a little guidance you might make Albus into a decent boyfriend for my best friend."

Malfoy put his hand over his heart shocked. "Was that? Was that a compliment Rose Weasley?"

"I only give out a few of those Malfoy, so you better cherish it."

"I'm touched," said Malfoy.

Soon they arrived at Hogsmeade station. They got into a carriage with some other Ravenclaws. Rose was practically buzzing when the castle came to view. 

"Excited Rose?" Scorpius chuckled.

"Of course I am!" she shouted, "I'm home!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is anyone actually reading this? I'm just rewriting these for myself. Ah well.


	17. The First Day Back

Rose's first class the next day was Potions, and she was very excited. At a NEWT level, she would be brewing potions that were way more complicated than she was used to and she was ready for the challenge. Sarah and her walked together to class.

"You're not going to abandon me to sit with Albus are you? " Rose asked.

"Never! It will be just like last year, you'll be my table partner for every class including the ones that Al is in. Except this year Dom won't be joining us." Dom had decided not to take potions. She was planning to become a journalist at the Daily Prophet and she never really liked potions anyways. Sarah and Rose, however, were both set on being healers. For Rose, she wanted to make medicines for unsolvable cases. Potions was very important to her.

Professor Slughorn greeted the girls when they walked in. "Good morning Miss Anara, Miss Weasley. Early as usual I see! Did you have a good summer?"

"Yes professor," they said in unison.

"Good, good. Your family is doing well Miss Weasley? I suspect your mother has her hands full what with that big scandal in the Wizengamot Department... "

"Yes sir," Rose said, "She's being kept busy."

A few other students trickled in, preventing Professor Slughorn from getting details on the scandal. A while later Scorpius and Albus walked in along with Missy and Jessamine. Rose scowled and she saw Sarah beside her freeze up.

"There's two empty tables over there that we could sit at boys," said Jessamine, batting her eyelashes which she had to have used some type of lengthening spell on.

"Actually," said Albus, "I think I'll go sit at the table by my girlfriend..." and he brushed past them and sat at the table next to Sarah.

Sarah sat straight up and smiled at him, touching his arm when he came by.

"Hey Malfoy," Rose said loudly, "You better sit by us too. That way I have a great view of you failing to beat me."

Malfoy smirked and strode over to sit by Albus. Jessamine and Missy stood mouths agape in disgust.

Professor Slughorn stood up at the front of the class and said, "Alright let's get class started. Miss Penhallow and Miss Hale would you please find yourself a seat." The girls gave one last glare in Rose's direction before stalking off to the other side of the dungeon.

...

At lunch that day, James was at the table talking to Lily about Quidditch tryouts.

"Seriously, Lil you have to try out this year! We need a top notch team if we are going to beat Hufflepuff. And Roxy has been training all summer, so we'll need a chaser who can keep up with her at the Ravenclaw match!"

"Yeah Lily, Quidditch is in your blood!" piped up Fred, "Just look at your parents! Your mom was a professional Quidditch player, and your dad was the youngest seeker of the century!"

Lily shrugged. "I don't know. I don't like how intense it all is. I'd rather play for fun. Plus won't it look suspicious if three of the seven players are from the same family?"

James was about to burst a blood vessel. "Lil, there's already too many of us playing Quidditch, what could one more hurt? And this summer when we played, you were great a getting goals of Perry and that's what we are going to need to beat Hufflepuff! I was watching him, and I think I know some of his tricks now, I could teach you how to avoid them!"

Rose laughed, "You were scouting out our cousin. Our THIRTEEN year old cousin? While we were playing for fun at Nana's?"

"See that's what I mean!" said Lily, "You're too intense!"

As the two kept arguing, Dom sat down on the bench beside Rose.

"Where's Sarah?" she asked, as she reached for the plate of sandwiches, "And did the post come today?"

"Sitting with Albus. And no it probably won't come until tomorrow at breakfast. Are you expecting something?"

"No. Just wondering."

Rose squinted her eyes at her cousin, knowing she was lying. But she really didn't feel like questioning her, so Rose decided to drop it. For now.

...

After dinner that night Rose went to one of her favorite places in the castle; the library.

She walked around the familiar shelves until she reached the fiction books. Then she ran her hand across the spines, looking for the perfect one. Most people when choosing a book pick the ones that stand out; the ones that are bright colored or have shiny lettering.

Rose however liked to choose the ones that were worn and hidden amongst the newer books.

Rose chose one that was dark green, with faded gold lettering. She took the book off the shelf then went and found her favorite chair that was in the far corner of the library. It was secluded and quiet and very comfortable. She curled her feet into her and started to read.

She was two chapters in when she was interrupted. 

"Fancy seeing you here Weasley."

Rose was so absorbed in her reading that she hadn't hear Malfoy approach her.

Without glancing up, she held out her finger to tell him to hold on for a moment. She finished the sentence she was on, tucked in the ribbon to mark her page, and closed the book.

Malfoy had his arms crossed with a small smile, almost like he knew a secret that Rose didn't. She tried not to focus on how good his arms looks with his sleeved rolled up and his arms crossed, and instead looked him directly in the eye and said:

"Hello Malfoy. I was just enjoying something for once, so you seem to be right on schedule."

Malfoy grinned, "Am I really that predictable? I better step up my game, I do want to keep you on your toes."

Rose sighed, "Is there anything else you want say Malfoy? I think I better get going up to my dormitory anyways. Haven't started the Defense homework yet."

"Wow I must be getting predictable, you seem bored of me insulting you. Now I will definitely have to change it up a bit."

That scared her. But instead of reacting, she just got to her feet. "See you tomorrow Malfoy."

As she was walking past him, she tripped on a loose floorboard she did not see before. But before Rose could even process what was happening, Malfoy's hand shot out and caught her waist.

He pulled her back up and towards him.

"Be careful Rose," Scorpius said, his eyes locked on hers, hand still on her waist, "You don't need another concussion."

She stared into his eyes for what seemed like forever, but in reality was only a few seconds. Finally she came to her senses, and stepped out of his grasp.

"Thanks. See yeah." Rose turned and walked briskly away clutching the book to chest, away from Scorpius Malfoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Many. Tropes. I am not sorry.


	18. Pranks

About a week later, Quidditch tryouts were open. James was sure he had created the perfect team to win the cup. It was his second year as captain, and losing last year to Hufflepuff was rough on him. No one had expected his cousin Perry to be an outstanding Keeper. But this being James's last year, he was determined to win.

Tuesday morning, Albus sat at our breakfast table staring into his Wheaties.

"I'm sure you'll do great Al, I mean you're a great Quidditch player! They'd be a fool not to let you on!" Sarah reassured him.

"Yeah Albus, you'll do great!" smiled Lily. Lily had ended up trying out for the Gryffindor team, and was officially a chaser.

James was being extremely unhelpful. "Besides, with Malfoy helping make the decision you already have a leg up ahead of the others."

Al's head shot up. "Oh no. If I get on everyone is going to think it's because I'm friends with Scorp! They'll hate me!"

Sarah patted him reassuringly. "They won't hate you, because you're going to perform better than the rest! I know it."

...

An hour later, Sarah, Lily and Rose made their way to the pitch.

"Hey you can't watch!" shouted a Slytherin boy, "You're probably scouting!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "We're watching my brother, Timothy. It's not against the rules."

Timothy turned to Malfoy and said, "She's the new chaser, she's probably watching to see what she's up against."

Malfoy turned and looked at the girls, but instead of yelling at them, he smiled and waved.

"Glad you could make it, ladies. Timothy, why don't you shut up before you make it on my bad side."

Timothy scowled, but kept silent.

The girls made their way up the winding stairs to the top of the bleachers. The captain of the team was some guy named Daniel Tommens . Malfoy was like his right hand man; he already knew that he was going to be a beater.

They started off by having them do a warm-up lap around the pitch. Then they tried out everyone as every position. Albus was decent at chaser, alright as a beater and dreadful as a Keeper. But when they tested him as a Seeker, it was obvious he was the right choice. He caught the snitch before anyone else, within five minutes of its release.

He got his position on the team.

...

"Oh yeah, Potter/Weasley family dominates as usual!" shouted James when Albus told him the news. "Now we have a family member on each house team! This might get awkward fast..."

"I told you would do good," said Lily, "You were the best seeker by far."

"If I knew that I would be playing against you, I wouldn't have given you all those pointers this summer," James said. Al gave him a light shove, but the grin stayed on his face. It was fun seeing the Potters being competitive, but Rose was hoping that it didn't get to their heads. No one was safe when the Potter children were fighting. 

Rose excused herself from the group so she could get started on her Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. They had to write a short 12 inch essay on a category five beast of our choosing. Rose took the stairs two at a time up to her dormitory, wanting to get a head start.

She grabbed the books she needed and headed to the common room so she could work on her homework in her favorite spot by the window. Settling in, she opened her textbook and-BANG!

A loud noise erupted from her textbook and she was temporarily blinded by an explosion of something. She received a mouthful of glitter.

Rose spat the glitter out, and wiped it from her eyes. Looking down at her book, she saw the remainder of a Weasley Wizard Wheezes glitter bomb and small note that just had an S on it.

Malfoy.

...

"What happened to you?" said Sarah as she walked into the bathroom. Thirty minutes later, and Rose still had glitter stuck in her hair.

"Malfoy snuck a glitter bomb in my charms book. He did this at Christmas too, but with sand. I've tried my best to clean it up, but the disappearing spell isn't working so well on it."

"Do you want me to try?"

"No it's ok. I have to go visit my dear cousin Albus down in the Slytherin rooms..."

Sarah looked at her apprehensively. "Just nothing that can get you detention alright?"

Rose smiled. "Of course not-bye!" 

She ran out of the portrait hole, down the stairs and almost straight into Malfoy.

"In a hurry Weasley?"

Rose quick thought of an excuse to where she might be going. "Actually I am. I just received word that Unc- Professor Longbottom has a new book for me to borrow."

"How nice of him." Malfoy then saw looked at the top of her head, and a grin formed on his face. "Weasley I think there is something in your hair."

Rose crossed my arms. "Yes. Thank you for that. But I thought you were going to mix it up a bit?"

His face formed a scowl. "What do you mean?"

"Well you already did the whole "bomb" thing at Christmas."

"Ah yes, but the glitter bomb is a little bit more permanent, not as easy to cleanup as a flick of the wand. I believe that your cousin Fred came up with the idea."

"Whatever, shouldn't you be on your way to meet your girlfriend of the week or something?"

Scorpius's face wavered for a second before going back to smiling. "As a matter of fact, I am going to the library." He then bent down in a bow, and said, "Always a pleasure Rose. I hope you enjoy your new book."

Rose nodded and headed down another flight of stairs, while Malfoy headed up towards the library.

When she reached the Slytherin wall, she tried to once again get in without knocking. A new portrait now guided the dungeon since her parents were in school. Instead of a blank wall, that just anyone could get into with a password, there was a picture of man drinking wine, named Thaddeus. Thaddeus made sure no one but Slytherins were able to get in. Rose annoyed him very much.

"Spider leg!"

Thaddeus sighed. "Ms. Weasley you know I can't let you in unless you are a Slytherin."

"But you know that I'm here to visit Albus! Come on, just this once!"

"No. Just hurry up and knock."

Rose rapped loudly, and Thaddeus cringed. Soon the portrait swung open, and a first year stood looking at her.

"Hello, I don't know you. Excuse me, Albus! Where are you?" Rose pushed passed the startled boy. She stomped up the stairs and when she reached Al's dormitory, knocked loudly. When no one answered she opened the door a crack to make sure the coast was clear.

Time for a little payback.

Rose crept over to Scropius's stuff and dug out all of his socks. Being quick, she whispered the spell under my breath, hoping that nobody walked in. Rose couldn't help but grin as all of his sock slowly turned to a florescent pink.

As she was putting his socks back, something caught her eye. A photo tucked away underneath some t-shirts. Rose wouldn't of looked at it, she usually did not look through people's stuff without permission, but she couldn't help but see a glimmer of red hair from the photograph that looked suspiciously like hers.

Curiosity got the best of her, and she pulled the picture out so she could see what it was.

It was a picture of her. And Scorpius. The night of the ball.

Scorpius was holding Rose close, closer than she thought they actually were that night. They were looking ieach other in the eye, Scorpius was wearing his signature smirk and Rose had a genuine smile on her face. It was unbelievable how gracefully they moved; Scorpius was really a very good dancer, especially because he made Rose look like she knew what she was doing too.

She was mesmerized by the photo. Why did he have it? The picture was not on the very bottom of his stuff, so he must of looked at it recently, but why would he be looking at it? Maybe because he liked to look at her? Could it possibly be that Scorpius had a crush on her? And the kiss wasn't just to make her mad?

Maybe she just watched way too many detective shows this summer.

Rose heard footsteps outside the door, and so she hurried and put the photo back. She jumped up and sprinted to Albus's bed, and pretended to look at the photos he had hung up on his wall.

The door opened and Al walked in.

"Hey Rose, I heard that you were up here. I was just finishing up talking to James, what's up?"

"Just wanted to stop by and see how you're feeling about finally being on the team! I see you hung up some new pictures."

Albus walked over and looked at the photos with her. There was one of the entire family, all bunched together at Christmas. Then there was one of just Al, Lily, and James smiling from the Quidditch World Cup a few years ago. Roxy, Dom, Al, and Rose smiled and laughed from one photo that they took at the lake. And finally there was a photo of him and Sarah at the ball, walking down the grand staircase.

"Yeah, they're cool huh?," he said, before lowering his voice into almost a whisper. "Rose I'm a little scared I made the team. What if I'm terrible! The only Potter to suck at Quidditch. James will never let me live it down."

Rose slung her arm around her cousin's shoulders and gave him a hug. "You'll do great Al. I saw you at tryouts, and you were better than everyone there! Obviously, otherwise they wouldn't of chose you for the team."

Albus nodded his head. "Yeah I guess you're right. Scorp said he'll help me out tomorrow afternoon, you know get some extra practice."

"See!" Rose said, "Everything will be alright. Do you want to go down to Uncle Neville's office with me? He is letting me borrow a new book."

"Alright," said Albus, "Why doesn't Uncle Neville ever ask me if want to borrow books?"

Rose laughed. "Because you don't like Herbology, remember?"

She followed Albus out the door, giving one last glance towards Scorpius's side of the room before leaving.


	19. Heart's Desire

Rose was sitting the next morning at breakfast when the owl post arrived. Dom, who was sitting next to her, quickly scanned the ceiling until she spotted what must have been a familiar owl. The owl swooped low and landed right beside the plate of toast. Dom excitedly reached over and untied the letter.

"What's got you smiling like that Dom? Did you win something?" Fred asked. Dom was indeed grinning like she had received a letter from the Queen herself.

"No, it's nothing, just an ordinary letter," Dom said trying to cover up.

James reached over and snatched the letter out of her hand.

"James! Give it back, that's private!" shouted Dom.

James's eyes scanned through the letter. "Is this some admirer of yours? 'How I wish I could see you again soon. Too bad we are so far apart'. Whose Will?"

Rose looked at her wide eyed. "Will? That muggle from Nan's?"

Dom pried the letter back from James. "Yes, that Will. I've been writing him..."

Fred's eyes grew wide. "How are you writing Will? Did you tell him-"

"No I didn't tell him! He thinks I'm at some private school in France. I gave him Vic's address, and she forwards the mail to me here. It's a long process, but it's the only way I can keep in touch with him..."

"That's brilliant!" said Fred, "Why didn't I think of that? I told Charlotte that they didn't allow mail at my school. I bet mum would forward it to me..."

Just then Rose heard some snickering from the other tables. The cousins turned around to see Scorpius Malfoy walking straight towards them.

Although his Quidditch robes mostly covered it, everyone could clearly see fluorescent pink peeking out from above his shoe.

"Nice socks Malfoy!" shouted a boy from the Slytherin table. Scorpius was not at all embarrassed. Instead he embraced the attention. He smirked in the direction of the caller, but continued to make a beeline to where Rose was sitting.

"Love the socks Malfoy," Rose said when he approached, "Pink is definitely your color."

"Thank you Weasley, just as green is yours." He winked at her and gave that secretive smile, like he knew something she didn't. "I actually came to ask you if you wanted to help me practice with Al. We could use a third person."

Rose put her hand on her heart. "Is this really happening? Is Scorpius Malfoy actually asking me for a favor?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "I could always find another person. You were just the first one Albus requested."

Rose stood up from the table. "I suppose I'll help, but only because I want to help my dear Albus."

"Don't make him too good Rosie, your house becomes before your family!" said James.

Dom swatted him, telling him that is exactly opposite of what it should be. Rose waved goodbye to her family, and headed out to the pitch with Malfoy.

...

When they got there, Albus was nowhere in sight.

"Uhm, Malfoy aren't we missing the person who is supposed to be practicing?"

Malfoy set down the box of Quidditch supplies who was lugging behind him. "He went to go change, shouldn't be long. Until then, why don't we warm up a bit? Race you around the pitch?"

Rose grinned. "You're on."

Swinging her leg over her broom, she quickly rose into the air without fault. Although she wasn't the best Quidditch player, Rose was decent on a broom. Scorpius rose up beside her.

"Ready-Go!" she shouted and took off leaving him unexpectedly. She heard him shout something from behind her, probably some curses. She wasn't for sure he how far away he was, until she felt him come up behind her. She urged the broom to go faster.

Scorpius zoomed by her, and beat her by a few meters.

They both came to a slow hover.

"Not bad Weasley, you are pretty fast. Though you did cheat."

"It's not cheating! You just weren't paying attention enough!"

Scorpius laughed sending butterflies to Rose's stomach. She could listen to that laugh all day. Her mind slowly started to wander to the picture she had found in his socks. How his strong arms were holding her close. And the way he looked at her as if she was the only girl in the room...

"-he's walking slow, Merlin."

"Sorry, what?" she snapped out of her daze.

"I said Albus is coming and he's walking slow."

Rose looked down to see Albus was indeed slowly making his way down to the pitch. She flew down quickly to greet her cousin landing elegantly, Scorpius beside her.

"You didn't start without me, did you?" Albus said, looking from Rose to Scorp.

"Of course not," said Scorpius, "First you're going to do some warm up laps, then we are going to practice your broom handling, and then end with you practicing catching the snitch. Good?"

They worked on broom handling for about an hour. Rose was surprised on how much fun she was having. Scorpius showed Albus how to do dives, and Rose decided to learn with him. After that she got to hit bludgers at both Scorpius and Al and they had to try to dodge them. That was of course very entertaining. Finally Scorp and Al and Rose raced around trying to spot the snitch first and catch it.

By the end of our practice, Rose was extremely tired but giddy, Albus was feeling better about the first match, and Scorpius looked proud of what he accomplished.

"I got to say Rose, you did a lot better than expected. You should of tried out for the team," Scorpius said as the trio made their way back to the castle.

Rose laughed at Scorpius's comment. "Yeah right, I'm not near as good as anyone else on the Gryffindor team." Her feet were starting to really hurt, and they still had a long way to go. It was pretty pathetic, but usually she didn't do so much exercise.

Rose saw Albus's face light up, and turned to see Sarah was sitting under a nearby tree doing homework.

"I'll catch up to you guys later, I need to tell Sarah something." Al jogged off, leaving Rose alone with Scorpius.

"I'm so tired, I don't think I can walk anymore," Rose complained. "Will you carry me?"

She was surprised when Scorp sighed and said," Alright, hop on."

"Seriously?"

"Sure, why not. I mean, you did do me a favor by hitting bludgers at Al and me."

Rose couldn't decide if this was a good idea or not, because he could drop her whenever he wanted. But her feet really were sore, and she jumped onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

He grabbed onto her legs and started the walk back up to the castle.

There was three things Rose noticed while Scorpius was carrying her to the castle.

1\. He was really strong. Like he was carrying her uphill with no problem.

2\. He wasn't complaining about her weight. She was completely taken aback at his lack of rude comments.

And 3. He smelled really good. Really good for someone who had just got done exercising. 

When they got up to castle he threatened to throw her into fountain.

"Nooooooo," Rose screamed. He swung her over, but she held on tight laughing. Finally he set her down safely on the ground.

"Thanks for the lift Malfoy. I suppose I'll see you later."

Rose turned to walk away, but Malfoy suddenly caught her shoulder.

"Hey Rose, do you want to go to a party with me tonight?"

"What?" She blinked at him.

"The Quidditch teams from all fours houses come together and have a party down in the dungeon. The professors just let it happen because is supports inter-house friendships, unless it gets too crazy or too late. Each player is allowed to bring a plus one."

Rose had heard of this party, how could she not being around all the Quidditch players in her family, but she had never attended before.

She felt my cheeks starting to turn red. "I don't know..."

"Think about it," Scorpius said as he started to walk backwards into the castle door. "I'll leave the spot open for you, if you decide you want to come, just join Sarah. I'm sure she'll be coming too."

Rose nodded. "We'll see."

Scorpius smiled and said, "I hope you will come." and disappeared into the castle, leaving her outside dumbstruck.

Because she was thinking that Scorpius Malfoy might of just asked her out on a date.

...

It was green posters. Giant green posters with the Slytherin snake hissing it's tongue at her. There was probably about a dozen of them plastered on her wall. She was going to kill whoever had let him in. It was probably Nicola. That traitor. 

Rose had screamed when she opened the door. Then spent the next half-hour trying every spell she knew to remove them, until Sarah walked in and also screamed. Luckily, Sarah was very good at countering sticking charms.

After they had rolled them all up and disposed of them, Rose asked Sarah the question she had been waiting to ask her.

"Are you going to that Quidditch party tonight?"

Sarah looked up at her, confused, "Yeah I think so, did someone invite you?"

Rose looked away from her, "Scorpius might of asked if I would go with him..."

Sarah's face lit up. "Oh my gosh he asked you out?!"

"No! He just asked if I would like to attend this particular event with him."

"Did you say yes!?"

"I said maybe. I'm not sure if I want to go..."

Sarah bounced up and down beside her "Of course you have to go! If not because Scorpius is extremely good looking, come with him so I have someone to talk too!"

"What about your boyfriend?"

"Rose, you're going."

"But-"

"You are going."

Rose looked at her best friend, and could see there was no crossing her.

Rose sighed. "Fine. I'm going." 

Sarah squealed with delight. Rose covered her eyes with her hands. What had she gotten herself into? 

...

Rose had to suck in a breath when she saw Scorpius. Of course she had to admit he looked good in everything, but he looked particularly nice tonight.

He was wearing just a plain light blue shirt, but it hugged him in just the right way that honestly made Rose a little weak at the knees. He wore some simple jeans and black converse that matched Rose's red ones. His white hair was tousled, so it looked like he had woke up, ran his fingers through his hair and just gone with it.

It was such a normal outfit, but since Rose rarely saw him without his school robes on, she thought he looked pretty nice.

When Scorpius saw her, his face broke out into a huge smile, and his eyes were gleaming. Rose thought he must not of expected her to show up.

Sarah gave Al a hug, and Scorpius came up to her.

"You came."

Rose kicked the ground. "Yeah, well I figured that there was a chance you might make a fool out of yourself here, and I didn't want to miss that."

He chuckled, and Rose couldn't help but grin at the sound of his laugh.

"Ready?" Al asked.

Rose nodded, falling in step beside Sarah as they headed to the party. 

...

A seventh year guarded the entrance. When he saw Scrop and Al, he nodded and opened the door. Inside music was blaring. People were everywhere around the room, some dancing to the music, other chatting in the corners. A table at one end had a variety of food and drinks.

Rose quietly did the math that if everyone brought a date, there would be 56 people, which seemed like a little much for this small room.

As Rose looked around, she started recognizing familiar faces. Roxy was in the corner, being a little too intimate with her boyfriend. Lily was chatting with a cute Ravenclaw boy. Rose gave her a little wave. Perry was the youngest here at the age of 13, and was sitting away from the party with the other younger ones. They was not allowed to go near the fire whiskey that someone had smuggled in, and that Fred and James seemed to have had a bit much of.

Rose mingled around for a bit, talking and dancing with friends and cousins. She lost Scorpius while he went and talked to other people. Soon Albus and Sarah were out of sight too. 

After awhile, her stomach started growling. She made her way over to the table to food, trying to decide what to eat.

"Careful," said a voice in her ear, "Some of this food is dangerous."

She turned around to see Scorpius grinning at her.

She crossed her arms. "Oh really."

"Sure," he said, "Take those candy hearts right there. Do you know what those really are?"

Rose glanced over and saw the small bowl of candy hearts he was talking about. Of course she recognized them, she had some in her trunk upstairs.

"Why would someone put _Heart's Desired_ candy out?"

Scorpius shrugged. "So people can eat them and make fools of themselves. Makes a good story for the next day."

Rose reached for a chocolate covered strawberry, but Scorpius stopped her.

"Better let me try one first, make sure there's not a love potion or something."

She raised her eyebrows at him, but let him eat one first anyways.

"All good captain?" she asked.

Scorpius nodded and so Rose bit into one, closing her eyes at how good the chocolate was. When she opened them again, she saw the Scorpius was staring. Feeling slightly embarrassed, Rose glanced down at the candy heart's bowl again, and got an idea.

"Alright Malfoy, I dare you to eat one of those."

Scorpius looked at her to see if she was kidding. "Weasley why would I do that?"

Rose shrugged. "Because I know you won't back down from a dare. Plus I'll buy you a butter beer when we go to Hogsmeade next weekend."

Scorpius took a step forward so he was standing only mere inches from her. Her body stiffened.

"Are you sure you want me to eat one Rose? You never know what I'm going to say..." Rose's mouth grew dry, and she could only nod. Why was this way more intense than it should be?

His gaze never left hers, as he popped one of the candy hearts in his mouth.

Rose face broke into a smile. "Alright Malfoy, what is it that you desire right now."

Malfoy's eyes never left hers. "What I want is to kiss you again Rose Weasley."


	20. Kissing the Enemy

Sometimes in life you get those feelings where you think this has to be a dream. Your head starts to spin so fast, that you can't even pin down a single thought. You can't remember anything, not even how to breathe properly let alone how you are supposed to be reacting.

Rose was in one of those moments.

She stared at Scorpius for what was probably only a couple seconds, but felt like an eternity. Her head was whirling, but she was pretty confident that Scorpius just said he wanted to kiss her.

"Are you drunk?" Rose choked out softly. It wasn't an insult, she seriously thought that it had to be the only explanation.

Scorpius gave a weak smile, and took another step towards her. "Nope. Well, I've had a bit to drink, but not enough to not know what I'm saying."

He stared at her intensely, waiting to see her reaction. And she wasn't even for sure how she was going to react.

Rose had hated Scorpius for so long. He had always been annoying and rude and picked on her. She had once loathed him with every ounce of her being. But lately that had sort of gone away. Something had happened along the way, perhaps when they were at the lake, or maybe even before that when he had carried her to the hospital wing. But she didn't hate him as much anymore. Actually she really didn't hate him at all.

"Don't over think it, Rose." Scorpius said, snapping her out of her thoughts. She could see a hint of sadness in his eyes, as he started to turn away from her.

Before she could mull over it anymore, she reached out, grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Before he had any time to react, she was pulling him towards her. She had to stand on the tips of her toes so she could crash her lips on his.

At first he stood still, but after getting over the initial shock, relaxed and deepened the kiss. He wrapped his arms around Rose's waist, pulling her even closer to him. She put her arms around his neck, and couldn't help but sigh in content. This must of awakened something in him, for he started to kiss her harder, lacing his fingers in her hair.

She hadn't realized at how much her feet were aching from standing on her toes until he pulled away and whispered "Let's get out of the middle of the room."

He grabbed her hand and led her over to a wall. She was vaguely aware that people were staring, but in that moment she didn't care. All she cared about was kissing Scorpius again. Because what just happened was incredible.

Rose leaned her back against the cold stone wall, and Scorpius braced himself on either side of her.

"And what do you desire at this moment Rose Weasley?" he said smirking.

Rose rolled her eyes and reached back up to wrap her hands around his neck again. This time his lips met hers in the middle.

...

It felt like they were there for hours to Rose. Scorpius holding her close to him up against the wall. Rose running her fingers across his back and through his hair. She never wanted to move on from that moment. Never wanted for his strong arms to let go of her. Never wanted for them to part.

Unfortunately Rose's best friend and cousin had to ruin that moment.

"Eh hem."

Scorpius pulled away and dropped his arms from around her waist. Rose looked over to see Sarah and Albus staring at them. Sarah was smiling, her eyes lit up with amusement. Albus looked very uncomfortable.

"Uhh Scorp, they need you over there. The captains of all the teams are going to do some challenges against each other," Albus said.

"And I was thinking about heading back Rose, before it gets to crazy and was wondering if you wanted to come too..." said Sarah, looking between Scorpius and her.

Rose nodded. "Yeah that sounds like a good idea."

She turned to Scorpius, not really knowing what to say, but she didn't have to because the Slytherin captain came and drunkenly grabbed Scorpius's arm. "There you are Malfoy, we are starting," and pulled him away. Albus gave Sarah a quick kiss goodnight, and followed them.

Sarah gave Rose a giant smirk, but Rose ignored her and started heading to the door. All the way up the stairs Sarah wouldn't stop smiling.

"Sarah, could you stop you're creeping me out."

That just made Sarah laugh. "Come on Rosie, you know you want to talk about it!"

Rose groaned. "Maybe later, when we are not out of bed after curfew."

"Alright, but as soon as we get back, you are going to give me all the details!"

...

"Rose snogged Malfoy!"

Rose threw her head back in frustration. They had literally just walked in the room when Sarah announced it to their other roommates.

Dom and Nicola both shot up from where they were sitting.

"Yes! " Dom shrieked and turned to Nicola, "You owe me a Fizzing Whisbee!"

Nicola's mouth was agape. "No way! I was for sure it wasn't going to happen until next week!"

Rose stared at them. "What are you talking about? And could you keep it down, normal people are sleeping."

Dom patted her bed, and Rose went and sat on it. Nicola and Sarah both climbed up too, ready to hear about the night.

"Nicola and I had a bet whether or not you and Scorp would finally realize that you had the hots for each other tonight," Dom explained.

"I thought you guy would be dancing around this for at least another month. I mean it's taken years just to have a normal conversation with the guy."

Appalled, Rose looked at Sarah. She threw her hands up and said, "Hey I didn't bet on it!"

"So you mean you all thought that Scorpius and I were going to make out at some point?"

"Of course," chirped Dom, "You guys are like the definition of sexual tension."

"But enough about that," said Nicola, "Tell us the details. "How was it?"

"It was good..." Rose said, then she closed her eyes remembering how it felt when she was pressed up against wall... "Actually, it was bloody incredible."

The girls all laughed. "I'll say," Sarah piped up, "You guys were kissing like it was the last day on Earth."

Rose smacked her with a pillow, even though she knew Sarah wasn't wrong.

"So what did he say afterwards?" Dom asked, leaning forward a tiny bit.

"Nothing actually. Albus and Sarah interrupted us-"

This admitted glares from the other two, and Sarah shouted, "It wasn't my fault! Albus needed him!"

"-anyways then Daniel Tommens grabbed Scorp away from me and that was that."

"You should of said something!" said Dom.

Rose covered her face with her hands. "Like what? Thanks for the snog, see you Monday!"

Nicola rolled her eyes. "You could of said something sexy, like whispered in his ear, 'Meet me tomorrow in empty classroom, third floor, first on the right'."

"I think you've watched to many movies, Nic," Rose said, "Now I'm exhausted, do you mind if I go get some sleep now?"

The girls wanted Rose to go into deeper detail, but Rose insisted she was too tired. Finally they gave up and allowed her to change into her pajamas and crawl into her bed.

Her brain was still spinning, even an hour after it had happened. And she was really nervous what was going to happen next.

...

By morning, gossip was flying about last night's Quidditch party. The Hufflepuff captain had ran across the school lawn stark naked. A Gryffindor beater had cheated on his girlfriend. Someone's date had thrown up in front of Slughorn's office after drinking too much fire whiskey. The party was shut down at two in the morning by the headmistress herself.

And Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy were snogging in the corner.

It seemed as if the entire school including the professors knew this.

When Rose sat down at breakfast the next morning with Sarah, she got curious glances from most of the Gryffindor table but nobody actually made a comment. Most people were more concerned with the fact that Layla Tricket was crying softly at the Ravenclaw table, because her now ex-boyfriend was caught making out with some fourth year.

"Poor girl," said Sarah, "I wish we could comfort her somehow..." Rose agreed.

James and Fred came stalking up to the table and sat across from them.

"What were you thinking Rose! You can't snog the enemy!" James shouted.

"They aren't the enemy James, and it was probably just a onetime thing. Maybe. I don't know."

"Besides," said Sarah, "I've kissed Albus, who is also the enemy."

"That's different," huffed James, "If he wasn't my brother I would be yelling at you too."

Rose stole a glance over her shoulder at the Slytherin table while James and Sarah were arguing. She spotted Malfoy's white-blond hair in an instant. As subtle Rose was trying to be, Malfoy saw her looking at him. His face broke out into a smile and winked at her. Rose couldn't help but give a slight smile in response, before turning back towards Sarah.


	21. Amortentia

Rose was sitting in one of her favorite spot on the fourth floor bay window when Scorpius finally confronted her. She was so engulfed in her book, that she didn't hear him walk up until he sat down by her feet. She looked up and jumped a little.

"Jesus Malfoy, you scared me!"

Malfoy laughed, "Must be a good book huh? What is it?"

A showed him the cover. "The Girl on the Train. Jack and Perry's mum let me borrow it."

He snatched it out of her hand and read the back cover. "Sounds interesting, how is it?"

"Decent," Rose said grabbing it back. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to talk, but he didn't. "Well? Was there a reason that you've interrupted my reading?"

Scorpius gave a weak smile, "Yes, there is a reason. I wanted to talk to you about last night actually."

Rose tried to conceal that she was actually nervous to have this conversation with him by closing her book and looking him directly in the eye with a false confidence. "Alright, go ahead," she said, trying to keep the shaking out of her voice.

"I wanted to say that I rather enjoyed your company last night, and I know for a fact that you enjoyed mine, so I was thinking we should do it again sometime," he rambled.

Rose snorted. "You make it sound like we were playing cricket or something. Is this your weird twisted way of asking me out on a date?"

"I was thinking more us hanging out more and if casual make out sessions happen to happen then so be it..."

Rose couldn't help but laugh. "I suppose that would be alright...we'll see."

"But don't think that this means I will no longer argue with you Weasley. I can't just agree with whatever you say. I'd be dishonoring myself as the smartest in the class.," He said while getting up from the window.

Rose stood up from her spot and followed. "Of course Malfoy, who else would I argue with? Everyone else would be too easy to beat."

"Did Rose Weasley just give me a compliment?"

"Yes. And here's another one." She stood on her toes and whispered into his ear, "You're a pretty good kisser." She turned her head slightly and gave him a quick peck on the cheek and walked away, calling over her shoulder, "See you later, Malfoy."

She didn't have to look back to know he was watching her walk away with a grin on his face.

...

"I don't know how I feel about you dating my best friend Rosie. It's was an awful thing to watch, the guy who is like my brother kissing my closest cousin."

Lily looked up from her homework at the table nearby in the common room, and over to where Al and Rose were laying on the floor in front of the fireplace playing wizards chest. She rolled her eyes at her brother. "Al you are Rose's cousin and she has to see you kiss her best friend all the time."

"Besides, we are not dating." Rose chimed in.

"You're something," muttered Albus. Yeah, he was right. They were something. "But this is different fro Sarah and me because you know Sarah is good for me. Scorp on the other hand has always been a player. What if he breaks your heart Rosie? Who would I choose?"

"You bloody well will choose me, I've been your friend since we were born Albus."

Albus considered this but then said, "Yeah of course I would be on your side...but it would be hard to be mad at Scorp after we've been friends for so long..."

Rose hit him hard with one of the pillows she had been laying on. He looked at her appalled before hitting her back with it, scattering the wizard chest pieces around the floor. "You ruined our game Al!" Rose yelled as she hopped up running away from him.

"You hit me first!" He chased after her, and she grabbed another pillow and started whacking him with it.

Lily watched us amused before Rose came over and hit her too. She shrieked and joined in our pillow fight. The other people and the common room just went on with their business, being used to the weird antics of the Potter/Weasley family.

...

Monday rolled around and Sarah and Rose found that they were being stared down by Jessamine and Missy in Potions class.

"I thought they couldn't hate us anymore than they did. I was wrong." Rose whispered to Sarah.

"You made enemies with a lot of girls that night Rose," she whispered back. She was right of course, Rose was consistently getting glares from other students who had crushes on Scorp.

It didn't help either when Slughorn announced, "I want you to find someone besides your usual partner to make some Amortentia." Missy and Jessamine suddenly perked up at the fact they were going to make a love potion. " _But we will not be sampling it._ Nor will we force others to drink it or take a vial of it to go. All of the potion will be drained at the end of today's lesson. If I find that you broke any of the rules, it will be two months of detention. Now find a partner, and get to brewing!"

Albus and Sarah immediately paired up. Jessamine called from the other side of the room. "Scorp, want to be my partner?" She batted her big fake eyelashes.

"My apologies Jessamine, but I am already partners with Rose," Scopr said as he gathered his belongings and sat in the chair beside Rose.

Rose raised her eyebrows. He sighed, "Just this once alright? I'll buy you anything you want at Honeydukes." That was an offer Rose couldn't refuse. He knew her so well.

When Slughorn walked by he looked apprehensively at the two of them.

"We'll get along, Professor, I swear," Rose said. Slughorn reluctantly nodded and told the class they could begin. 

The two were arguing within the first 5 minutes.

"Rose, we clearly need more peppermint than that."

"No, it says a fistful. I put in a fistful."

"But your hands are tiny, I'm sure the writer was thinking of someone with bigger hands!"

"Well I think that if we put anymore in, it will probably change the color of it, so let's not add more."

"Weasley, just let me add more!"

"NO!"

Slughorn came over to where they were brewing our potion. "Is there a problem?"

"No sir," they both grumbled.

After he moved on, Rose commanded Malfoy to get the rose thorns from the ingredients cabinet. He gave her a fake salute and said "Rose thorns for the thorny Rose. Got it." and went to go get them for her, but not before dropping a few more mint leaves into the cauldron.

Rose turned to Sarah and Albus who were sitting at the table next to them. "That boy is going to kill me."

Sarah just laughed before exclaiming, "Albus we are supposed to add moonstone, that's pearl!"

"Here you go Rose," she heard Scorpius say behind her. She turned around to get a cloud of something white and powdery in her face.

Shocked, Rose wiped it from her eyes. "What. Is. This."

"Relax, it's just flour," he said laughing smugly, "You look great by the way, the flour blends well with your skin!"

Rose kept a bitter expression as she wiped the flour off her face, and in one swift movement wiped it all over his uniform. A smile spread across her face as he looked at me with his mouth agape.

"It looks good on you too Malfoy."

Instead of being angry he just laughed as he reached in the bag and threw another handful at her. Rose shrieked and grabbed some too and threw it back. A full out flour war almost started before they heard Professor Slughorn say, "Miss Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, what are you doing?

They both dropped their hands. "Sorry Professor," Rose squeaked, "We were having a bit of fun and got carried away. Won't happen again."

Professor Slughorn sighed and said, "Clean it up, and continue your potion please. And no more throwing ingredients."

The duo nodded and started to vanish away the flour around them.

"Why do you think he had flour in the cupboard anyways?" Rose asked after they finished cleaning up most of the mess.

Scorpius started added ten rose thorns to the potion. "Maybe he makes cookie dough in the cauldron?"

Rose snorted, "I'm sure those taste great." She took another look at the textbook, "I think all we need left is an Ashwinder egg."

"Got that here," Scorp said, and dropped it into the cauldron.

Spirals of steam started to rise out of the cauldron, and suddenly Rose could smell the Amortentia. Her eyes began to flutter shut as she inhaled the scent of the three things she was most attracted too. The aroma coming from the cauldron smelled like Christmas, when she would walk into the kitchen and Nana was cooking gingerbread. She could also smell the library, like when she was curled up in front of the fireplace with a new book. And lastly, she could smell Scorpius, like when he held her on the way home from the lake, and her head was buried into his shirt.

"Well done Mr. Malfoy and Miss Weasley! I see you are the first to successfully get it correct! I'll just vanish this real quickly."

With a flick of Professor Slughorn's wand, the cauldron was empty. Rose suddenly snapped her eyes open, her cheeks flaring up. She could not believe that the potion had smelled like Malfoy. She glanced over at him quickly, and saw that he looked slightly abashed and Rose couldn't help but wonder what he had smelled. She was too afraid to ask in case he asked her in return.

They worked on homework while the other students finished up. Turns out with both of them working together, the homework got done even faster.

After class, Scorp and Albus walked with the girls until they had to part ways. Albus gave Sarah a quick peck on the cheek goodbye, and Sarah and Rose started up the stairs to Ancient Runes while Scorp and Al went the other way for their free period.

"So what did you smell Rosie?" Sarah asked while they trudged the way to class.

"Gingerbread and the library. You?"

"Cookie dough, a log cabin, and uhh," Sarah lowered her voice so only Rose could hear, "Albus's shampoo..."

Rose let out a laugh and she smacked her arm with her books. "Well what was your third thing?" she asked.

"There was supposed to be a third smell?"

"Don't play stupid, Rosie, you know as well as I do that Amortentia has three distinct smells." Her face suddenly turned into a knowing smile. "You don't want to tell me do you? It was Scorpius wasn't it?!"

"Shhhh! You're being loud! And so what if it was..."

This time it was Sarah's turn to laugh at Rose. "I knew it! Oh my gosh, this is too good! What did Scorpius smell?"

Rose shrugged. "We didn't talk about."

"Probably because he smelled you! I bet you 100 galleons that he did!"

She didn't shut up about all the way to Ancient Ruins. Rose was only half paying attention to what she was saying, because now she wanted to know more than anything what the three scents that Scorpius Malfoy had smelled.


	22. Hogsmeade

The next weekend Sarah and Rose were just finished getting ready to go to Hogsmeade when they heard a knock on the door. Sarah went and opened it to Albus.

"Hey Rose you better watch out, some third year is trying to steal your man."

"He's not my man Albus."

"Fine your make-out buddy. Yeah, Scorp told me about the other day."

Rose felt a blush creeping on her cheeks.

Scorpius and Rose had been working in the Library on Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. It was getting hard to concentrate because she could feel his eyes trained on her.

Finally Rose looked up and said, "Is there a reason you keep staring at me?"

"Just admiring how cute you look when you're frustrated."

Rose was about to state that she was not frustrated (even though she was), when she realized he had just called her cute. She nervously bit her lip as a smile began to creep on her face.

Scorp groaned, and stood up. Rose was wondering if maybe she did something wrong when he came around and grabbed her wrist pulling her to her feet.

"Where are we going?"

"To get a book in the back. The wayyy back," he said.

Rose's cheeks started to turn red, because she had a feeling she knew what he was meaning.

A few moments later, in an unventured corner of the library, Rose was pressed up against a shelf of dusty books.

"Wow can't get enough of me can you Malfoy," she teased. In response he dipped his head down.

"Shut up and kiss me Weasley," he muttered before pressing his lips against hers hungrily.

They were back there for a good 20 minutes before they heard voices coming. He pulled away and said, "We better get back to studying." Rose had kissed him one more time before grabbing his hand and not so subtly mad their way back to the table. 

Rose didn't think that Scorpius would tell Albus, but apparently those guys share just as much as Rose and Sarah shared. 

"Who is it?" Sarah asked, bringing Rose back to the current situation. 

"I don't know, she let us in," Al said from the doorway, "And then I told Scorp he wouldn't be able to come to your room, since you haven't programmed him to be able to come up the stairs yet. Of course he didn't believe me and sent us both tumbling when we tried to get up to your door..." Sarah and Rose both started to laugh. "Shut up. Anyways, the girl said 'I can program you in' all batting her eyelashes."

"I'm not threatened by a 13-year-old." Rose said sternly, "Besides, again it's not like we are dating. But I can program him in." They walked out the door and Rose quickly bent down and touched her wand on the stair in front of the dorm room.

"Rose Weasley allows Scorpius Malfoy to enter this room." The stair turned a shade of blue, and Rose tapped it twice. "Alright guys lets go."

At the bottom of the stairs, Scorp was waiting for them. A petite girl with bright pink hair was chatting with him. When Scorp saw Rose, his face broke out into a huge grin.

"Ready Scorp?" Rose asked, sidling up beside him.

He nodded and turned to the girl, "It was a pleasure meeting you Bella." He winked at her causing her to giggle and bound up the stairs.

Rose must have had a sour look on her face because he chuckled and said, "Jealous much?"

"Why would I be jealous of you winking at a girl?" Rose challenged.

...

The crisp early October air made Rose tug on her coat a little tighter. The four of them made their way down to Hogsmeade bracing themselves against the wind. The first stop was at Honeydukes where Rose reminded Scorp that he said she could get anything she wanted from since she was his partner in Potions that day.

It was crowded in the shop, everyone was trying to get their fill of Halloween candy that were overflowing the shelves. Rose knew exactly what she wanted, Whizochoc was her favorite type of candy. It was tucked into the back corner and Rose started to make her way there. She was being pushed around, as she made her way through the crowd. Suddenly she felt someone grab onto her hand.

"You're so short, I don't want to lose you," Scorp explained. Instead of making a comment such as 'that's the point' or 'I can get around by myself thanks', Rose interlocked her fingers with his and continued through the crowd.

After they got done in Honeydukes, they headed over to Weasley Wizard Wheezes. A young brown haired lady by the name of Tanya was behind the counter.

"Oh Rose you just missed your dad by a half an hour! He was just here collecting records," Tanya said. Tanya then looked between Rose and Scorp and grinned "Let me know if you guys need anything." With a wink, she disappeared behind the counter.

Rose was confused by her reaction until she realized that Scorpius hadn't let go of her hand. She hadn't even noticed, it just seemed so natural walking around with him. Suddenly she was very happy that they had missed her dad.

Albus called Scorp over, and Rose reluctantly let go of his hand, suddenly feeling a little colder. She made her way over to the counter where Tanya was standing.

"Hey Tanya, could you uhm, not mention to my dad or Uncle George that I was here?"

Tanya laughed. "A secret relationship huh?"

"No, it's not a relationship...yet."

Tanya nodded. "My lips are sealed. Now go get back to your cute not boyfriend."

Rose gave her a silent look of thanks before returning to her friends.

"I was thinking we should head to The Three Broomsticks, Rose owes me a butterbeer," Scorp said as she came up beside them.

"Actually we were going to head over to Splintwitches and then stop by that coffee shop to try their new Halloween cappuccino," said Sarah, "But you guys can go ahead if that ok..." Sarah gave Rose a fleeting look. Rose knew that Sarah was seeing if Rose wanted be alone with Scorp or not.

"That's alright," Rose smiled, "We can meet up afterwards."

They parted ways, Scorp and Rose making their way into The Three Broomsticks. It was a relief when they stepped out of the cold air into the warm pub.

Rose picked out a booth in the corner, and Scorp ordered them two butterbeers. He sat down across from her.

"How was Ancient Runes yesterday?" Scorp said trying to make small talk.

"It was fine, gave us a mountain of homework though. I should probably work on that when I get back."

"So glad I dropped that class," he said sipping his butterbeer.

Rose wasn't for sure what to talk to him about. "How's your family?" she asked politely, figuring that was a safe subject.

"They're alright. Mum is a secretary at the ministry now, and Dad has been doing research in Alchemy. I don't understand his interest in it, but I suppose if it makes him happy. He deserves to be happy after our last family blowout."

"What was the last family blowup? If you don't mind me asking."

Scorp sighed. "Oh the usual, my grandfather Lucius does not believe in how my parents had raised me. Grandfather still believes in the whole "pure-blood" ideals."

"Well your parents must of raised you pretty well, you turned mostly alright."

He smirked. "Mostly?"

"Yeah mostly." Rose realized that Scorp knew everything about her family, but she didn't know anything about his. "What's your house look like?"

"It's large and dark. Not to cheery growing up, though my mum did her best. Made my father put all the dark artifacts and stuff in the cellar where I couldn't get to them. Pretty lonely growing up actually, that's why I love coming to your family events."

"Don't you have any close family?" Rose asked.

"I have two cousins on my mother's side, but they live in America now. We don't talk to the family on my dad's side."

Rose couldn't believe that she didn't know this before. She had always imagined Scorpius living an extravagant childhood, getting his every whim since he was an only child.

"But you talk to Teddy right? I mean he's related to you on your dad's side."

"I suppose I talk to Teddy, but we don't speak about our family. Enough about my family, let's talk about yours. Is Fred still talking to that muggle girl?"

The conversation grew a lot lighter then, and they were back to their joking and teasing selves. After a while, Scorp went to go get them refills of butterbeer. Rose was waiting patiently for his return when someone came up in front of her.

"Hey beautiful, need someone to buy you a drink?" Rose looked up to see Zachary Falcon standing over her. He was a year above Rose, and he had hit on her on occasion but she had always ignored him. He was swaying, looking tipsy.

"Are you drunk?"

"A little, some guys and I are up in the shrieking shack. Want to join us?" He sat down in the booth beside Rose, and she scooted closer to the wall.

"No thank you Zac. Now go away."

"Oh come on, Rosie, why don't you loosen up for once. Have a bit of fun." He started leaning in closer to Rose, and she could smell how bad his breath was.

"I said go away Zac."

She reached her hands out, ready to get him away from her, when she heard, "Hey! Get the HELL AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND."

Zac and Rose both turned to see Scorpius standing there, angrily clutching two butterbeers. Rose took this opportunity while Zac was turned to give him a mighty shove in the back, sending him sprawling on the floor.

"What is going on here!" they heard someone shout. Professor Longbottom was walking over from the other side of the pub. "Mr. Falcon, have you been drinking?" Zac sat up and rubbed his head, before promptly throwing up on the floor. Professor Longbottom grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up. "That is against school policy. I think you're going to take a little trip to see the headmistress with me." Then he turned and looked at Rose. "Rose, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Uncle Neville, thank you. They're in the shrieking shack, that's what he said."

Uncle Neville nodded before using his wand to clean up the mess and dragging Zac out the door. Scorpius came and slid in the booth next to her.

"Are you ok Rose?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

"I'm fine." Her face then broke into a grin. "So I'm your girlfriend now huh?"

Scorpius's cheeks turned a light pink. "I'm sorry, it just sort of came out-"

Rose cut him off by pulling him in for a kiss. This one was different than the ones before. The ones before were hungry and needing. This one was gentle, the way someone would kiss someone they cared about.

"I'd love to be your girlfriend," Rose whispered.

Later when they met up with their friends, Sarah gave a knowing smile when she saw Rose's hand interlocked with Scorpius's. Somehow Sarah could just tell.

Rose was dating Scorpius Malfoy.


	23. Reactions

Gossip spreads ungodly fast at Hogwarts, just like it would at any other school in the world. That is why Rose was currently being stared at by about 20 people wherever she went. People knew that Scorpius and Rose were dating before they even had arrived back in the castle.

As soon as Sarah had spotted Dom and Nicola enter the common room after our trip, she had waved them over frantically.

"Tell them Rose before they hear from someone else!"

Rose sighed. "Scorpius and I are sort of dating now..."

Nicola shrieked with delight while Dom said, "Hmm, thought you already were, but congratulations."

Throughout the rest of Saturday and the following day, Rose's family came up to her with various reactions to the news of her dating Scorpius.

Hugo had been the first, approaching her in the common room saying, "Rose, why didn't you tell me you guys were dating!"

"Because it happened about an hour ago, Hu and I haven't seen you!"

Hugo shook his head. "Some kind of sister you are." 

Lily was next, skipping over to her. "Rosie! I just heard from Albus that you are dating Scorpius finally! You guys are such a cute couple."

Rose smiled. "Thanks Lil, glad you think so." 

The following Sunday night was (unfortunately) family dinner, so Rose was bombarded by the rest of the family.

"Rose what did we say about dating the enemy!" James had shouted before she had even sat down.

"Yeah Rose," chimed in Fred, "I believe we specifically told you not to."

"Oh, give it a rest boys," said Roxy coming to her rescue, "I think you guys are good together."

James huffed. "Fine. But don't think you are completely off the hook. You either Sarah!"

...

It was surprising how easy it was with Scorpius. Everything was mostly the same; there was still arguing over who was the best alchemist in wizardry, and teasing each other. Of course now they were both more affectionate. Stealing kisses in the library, holding on to each other when walking, actual compliments.

Soon Rose decided it was time to write to her parents about her new boyfriend. She had never felt more nervous when she sent out one of the school's owls with the letter tied around it's leg. Rose had rewritten it a half a dozen times before it finally sounded alright.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_A lot has happened over the last few weeks, and I wish I could see you in person and tell you all about it. I figured I should be the first to tell you, and not one of the aunts or uncles. I've started dating someone, Scorpius Malfoy actually. I know that I always complained to you guys about how much I didn't like him, and how he got on my nerves, but over the last year I've looked past that. I found out that he is a decent human being. He is funny and charming and extremely intelligent. I hope you are ok with this, but honestly I like this guy so much it won't matter if you don't._

_In other news, Hugo is finally pulling up his grade in History of Magic! I've been working with him as much as I can, and his progress is obvious. I know he is getting a little stressed (just wait till he gets to his fifth year), but I'm sure he'll make it through. He does have Lily after all to guide him._

_I hope you are doing well! We just missed you at Hogsmeade, Dad, maybe next time we'll catch you._

_All My Love,_

_Rose_

Waiting for a reply was painful. Every day she scanned the ceiling for the owl she sent, hoping a letter would come. She wasn't sure if her parents would approve or not, but not knowing was killing her.

Scorpius's parents had apparently quickly replied to his letter.

He had casually mentioned at breakfast one morning that his mum was thrilled he finally had a serious girlfriend.

Rose dropped her fork. "You told them! What did your dad say?"

"He said 'Of course you picked a Weasley, but I suppose it was bound to happen since that family infested the school'."

Rose cracked a smile, but it still didn't ease her discomfort. She needed to know what her mum and dad were going to think of her new boyfriend. She needed to know if she was able to take him to dinner at her house without incident.

...

Rose received three letters within the next couple days from my family. The first was from her mum.

_Rose-_

_Scorpius seems like a lovely young man. You will have to invite him and his family formally to Christmas this year so we can get to know him better._

_Your father, of course, does not agree with you dating him, but I wouldn't put much thought into it. I've reminded him that the Potters love Scorpius, and your Uncle Harry is going to have word with him tonight. I am positive that his anger has everything to do with the fact that he Draco's son, but don't worry soon he will realize how childish he is being._

_I'm glad you are taking care of your brother and keeping up your grades. Tell the family I said hello, and thank Uncle Neville for the lovely flowers._

_Love,_

_Mum_

Rose was bummed by the answer. She was secretly hoping her mother would say "Congratulations! What a wonderful boy you chose! Your father is so excited." Rose had known the odds of that happening were slim, but it was still a disappointment when it didn't go how she hoped.

The second letter was from Victoire. Rose knew this was coming sooner or later, because Vic loves to be a part of other people's love lives.

_Dear Rosie,_

_I heard you finally and Scorpius are finally together! I knew you two would be cute from the first time you got detention together second year. I hope you are remembering the advice I gave you. Don't let him walk all over you. Make him treat you like a princess. Don't get overly jealous, it doesn't look good. And be yourself!_

_If you need fashion advice for your next date, or you get in a spat (I'm sure that's probably already happened knowing you two) then just send me a quick letter! I'm never far away :)._

_Teddy says hello and gives his love. He also made a comment about he feels as if his cousin is dating his cousin, but we both know that's not even by blood._

_Love you!_

_Victoire_

The last letter Rose received, she was not expecting. It came while she was at breakfast, the day after Victiore's letter. She was still feeling bad about her mum's letter, but when she looked at her Aunt Ginny's scrawled handwriting, suddenly her heart lifted the tiniest bit.

_Dear Rose,_

_Having a big family is great at times. It's nice to have plenty of people who love and care about you. But having such a big family also means word travels fast, and that each person will have an opinion on your situation and will think that it's their duty to give you it._

_Don't listen to them._

_I had six older brothers growing up who all thought that they had a choice in who I dated. They did not realize that I was my own person who took their opinion with a grain of salt. You are a completely independent young woman, and shouldn't listen to anyone when it comes to relationships unless you want to._

_Your parents were not big fans of Scorpius's father in school and neither was I. But that shouldn't effect what they or you think of Scorpius. Draco has done a fine job at raising a wonderful young man. If he is who you want to be with, then I support you 100%, and so does your Uncle Harry._

_Make sure James isn't being awful to Roxy, what with the big Quidditch match coming up. Also if you could help Albus with his Herbology homework that would be lovely. I know he is struggling, Neville told me as much, but he won't admit it. And tell Jack that he needs to write his mother back, Katherine is getting worried, she hasn't got a letter in a couple of weeks._

_We love you very much Rosie, and we'll see you at Christmas._

_All my love,_

_Aunt Ginny_

Aunt Ginny always seemed to know just what to say to make Rose feel better.

She folded up the letter, and put it with her things under her bed. Rose now had a lot to do, like lecturing Jack and keeping James in check. She needed to also confront Albus about his Herbology grade before meeting her boyfriend in the library. The first Quidditch game was coming up after all, and Albus's head was probably elsewhere.


	24. The First Quidditch Matches

Quidditch games were always very stressful at Hogwarts these past couple years, no matter who was playing. Rose's dad said that back in his days at Hogwarts, it was pretty simple who you were to root for; you cheered for your own house, and if your house wasn't playing then you'd root for anyone but Slytherin.

Of course Rose's dad didn't have any family or friends in the opposite houses.

The first game of the season was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Slytherin versus Hufflepuff would be held the following week. Of course Rose was hoping Gryffindor would win, after all that was her house and James, Fred, and Lily were all on the team. But of course Rose was going to have to cheer for Roxy on the Ravenclaw team.

The Gryffindor against Ravenclaw game was usually a fan favorite because of Rose's cousins. Roxy and Fred were constantly bantering during the game causing interesting calls. They've had half a dozen rules added because of the sibling rivalry. Fred was the first player to be penalized by chasing another player with his bat and then physically taking the Quaffle out of her arms.

"I'm glad we're not playing Gryffindor today," Albus said as Sarah, Dom, and Rose walked down with him towards the pitch. "I honestly think that James is going to knock me off my broom."

Dom slung her arm over his shoulders. "Don't worry Albus, the good thing about being a seeker is that you can stay on the opposite end of the pitch from James if you want."

They walked up the stairs and Rose saw Scorpius waving at them from the front row. She slid in next to him, Al beside her.

"So who do guys have your money on?" Scorp asked.

"Gryffindor, Roxy and Magnus are the only strong ones on Ravenclaw," Rose said, "Roxy said so herself, they have a weak team."

"Agreed," said Sarah, "I think Roxy is going to score a lot, but James will definitely catch the snitch."

The two teams came walking out onto the field, causing the stadium to erupt into cheers. They met in the middle where Madam Spinnet was holding the quaffle.

" _Welcome all to the first Quidditch match of the year, Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor!"_

The cousins and Rose all smirked when they heard the voice spill out of the speakers. They knew exactly who was the new announcer for the year.

_"I am Callum Jordan, and I'm surprised I even got this job since when I tried out last year Headmistress McGonagall said that my father ruined the position for me and there is no way she'd let me be the announcer for anything ever. Any who, we have two fine teams today led by legendary cousins: Chaser Roxy Weasley of Ravenclaw and Seeker James Potter of Gryffindor. Get used to seeing this family on the pitch folks, there are four out there today. There is just something in that family's blood that produces fine Quidditch players."_

Roxy reached out to shake James's hand. Roxy must had said something, because James laughed. As she walked away she gave a quick wave to Lily and a wink to her brother before getting into position.

Madam Spinnet blew her whistle and threw up the quaffle.

" _And they're off! Weasley immediately snatches the quaffle. Roxy Weasley I mean, we should number them really, and she passes it off to Myers. Myers weaves in and out, ooh and she drops it trying to dodge a bludger hit by Fred. First rule of chaser, don't drop the ball. Weasley #2 is giving her brother a death stare."_

The quaffle was passed to Lily who dove in and quickly scored. Rose and the gang stood up and cheered. Roxy gave Lils a quick thumbs up before swooping away to catch the quaffle from her teammate.

About 20 minutes into the game, Ravenclaw was winning slightly 50-40, when the whistle was blown because Roxy and Fred got into a heated argument.

" _Madam Spinnet has called the siblings to the ground. Honestly I think the call should go to Ravenclaw, because I do not believe you are allowed to throw your bat at an opposing player. Madam Spinnet is now threatening to contact their mother. Scary lady, their mother, you do not want to be around her when she's angry. This one time, I was over at their house, and Fred had this great idea of-"_

"Mr. Jordan, please stay on topic."

" _Right, sorry. Anyways for those who don't know, Madam Spinnet and the Weasleys' mother played on the same team in school, along with the Weasley's father and Lily and James's father. Oh it looks like the game is resuming!"_

The issue was resolved, and the game commenced. Roxy and Fred got over their anger quickly, because soon they were back to laughing and making rude comments about each other.

It was just about to become the 45 minute mark when James suddenly shot forward. The Ravenclaw seeker looked around confused before chasing after him. But it was too late.

 _"JAMES POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!_ "

The crowd jumped up and cheered as James landed and the rest of the team tackled him. The Ravenclaw team landed looking defeated, all but Roxy who walked over and jumped on her brother.

...

"I'd like to make a toast to the greatest team I've ever had, one down two to go!"

The victory party was in full swing in the Gryffindor common room, James was standing on a table making his toast. Most of the Gryffindor house and a scattered few of others were crowded together to celebrate the win.

"I'd also like to make a toast to my cousin Roxy, who as usual, was difficult to beat."

Roxy raised her glass to him from where she was sitting.

"And finally," said James, "To my amazing sister Lily who happened to be the leading scorer with 8 goals!"

The crowd erupted into applause again, Lily turning slightly red at the attention.

Rose weaved her way through the crowd to where Scorpius was sitting on one of the couches. His eyes still lit up when he saw her, even though they had been dating for a couple of weeks now. He patted his lap, and Rose climbed on and rested her head against his shoulder.

"Are you going to be ready for next week?" Rose asked, tracing a pattern on his arm with her finger.

"Yeah. It's just a game. I'm a little bit worried about Albus though." Rose looked over to where Albus was talking with James.

"He'll be alright."

Scorpius grabbed a stray piece of her hair and started twirling it around his finger. "I hope so. Hufflepuff is going to be a tough team. Perry is one of the best keepers I've ever seen."

Rose agreed. She glanced over to her cousin who was sitting with some other third years. He was goofing around with them, like a normal 13 year old. He was so young, but also the best keeper that Hogwarts had seen in a long time. It was

...

_"Welcome to another beautiful day of Quidditch!_ _Today's match, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff! The two teams today are lead by Hufflepuff chaser Edmund Corner and Slytherin beater Daniel Tommens. It should be a good game! Also side note, that's not on this card Headmistress gave me to read, the Slytherins better watch out for Keeper Perry Dursley, cousin of Slytherin Seeker Albus Potter. Dursley last year won Hufflepuff the house cup by his outstanding saves in the final match. This year is only the muggle-born's second year playing, and already pro teams are looking at him. Must make everyone else on any of the house teams feel inadequate."_

And on that cheery note, the whistle blew and the teams shot up into the sky. Lily, Sarah, Dom, and Rose were sitting in the second row of bleachers, James and Fred behind of them.

Even though Rose used to hate him, she had always liked watching Scorpius play Quidditch. He wasn't the fastest, but he was easily the most cunning. He was always analyzing situations and coming up with plans on the fly to get a score.

_"Scorpius Malfoy has the quaffle, he goes left wait no! He fakes it and passes it to Seeley, the guy who actually is from New Zealand, but his parents send him here every year. Man look at the New Zealand style flying. What flavor! OH HE DROPS IT TO MALFOY WHO IS HEADING TO THE GOAL, HE THROWS IT! BUT HE IS NO MATCH FOR DURSLEY WHO SAVES IT WITHOUT BLINKING AN EYE!"_

Although Rose felt bad that she was clapping when Scorp had failed at making a goal, she could not help it because it was an amazing save by Per. 

Albus was staying towards the top of the pitch circling around slowly, eyes peeled for the snitch. James, for once, was not scouting out the competition, but commenting on what Albus needed to do.

"He needs to get a little closer to the Hufflepuff seeker, just a smidge so if that girl sees the snitch first, he can chase her down. GET A LITTLE CLOSER AL!"

"James," Rose said turning around, "I don't think he can hear you."

As the game progressed, Hufflepuff was taking a dramatic lead. At the 90 minute mark, Slytherin was losing 170-20. It wasn't that the Slytherin team was necessarily bad. It's just their keeper couldn't keep up, and Perry was very good. Rose could tell that Scorpius was getting very frustrated, which wasn't helping the team.

 _"As we round off the 90 minute mark, Hufflepuff has a 150-wait. Corner has the quaffle, now 160 point lead._ _The Slytherin team captain is looking very angry, I would steer clear of him after the game-WAIT A MINUTE MARQUIZ HAS SPOTTED SOMETHING!"_

Everyone snapped their heads up to where the Hufflepuff seeker was zooming across the pitch. Albus was hot on her heels, gaining speed, trying to get to it first.

" _MARQUIZ AND POTTER ARE NECK AND NECK, HEADING STRAIGHT TOWARD THE BLEACHERS! WHO IS GOING TO-ooh is that an eagle? Wow you never see them this ti- ow! SORRY WHOSE IT GOING TO BE?! THEY ARE GOING TO CRASH INTO THE BLEACHERS! And they are now both tumbling down to the ground! Does one of them have the snitch? It looks like...HE DOES ALBUS POTTER CAUGHT THE SNITCH! BRINGING THE SCORE TO 180-170. HUFFLEPUFF WINS, BUT AN AMAZING CATCH BY THE SLYTHERIN SEEKER. I think he's going to need some medical attention."_

The cousins jumped to their feet, screaming with joy. Then they realized Al looked in pain, and they should probably go see him. Sarah ran out onto the field where already Scorpius was bending over Albus.

"That was amazing Al!" James shouted when he got to him, "We need to work on your braking technique a little bit, but we have plenty of time before the next game to practice."

Albus smiled and then winced. "It's too bad we lost..."

"At least you caught the snitch!" said Scorp, "Without that we would of lost by 300 points and would of been already out of the running for the cup."

Perry came running over. "Are you alright Al?"

"I'm good Per, you had a fantastic game."

James ruffled Perry's hair. "Yeah kid, you must of saved two dozen goals. My cousin, the best keeper of the century!"

Headmistress McGonagall came and fussed over Albus, muttering something about those Potters not being able to play one game of Quidditch without breaking bones.

Albus was carried up to the hospital wing, Sarah walking along with him. Rose put her arms around Scorpius and pulled him into a hug.

"You did great today."

Scorpius kicked the ground. "Not really. The only person who did good today was Albus."

"That's not true. You had so many great plays. You knew that Hufflepuff was going to be a hard team, but you guys did well. " Rose stood on her tippy-toes so she could whisper into his ear. "How about we go get some food from the kitchen and then we can relax in the bay window on the fourth floor. And if you feel up to it, we can even crash the Hufflepuff party."

Scorp smirked. "That sounds great. I'll be out in a moment." Rose unwrapped her arms so he could go change in the locker room.

They ended up not going to the party. Instead she fell asleep on him while they were laying in the window. But that's alright. There was still four more victory parties left in the year to go to.


	25. Christmas Shopping

Christmas drew near, and before Rose knew it, it was time to pack to head home for the holidays. She was very excited, Christmas was her favorite time of year. And this year the Malfoy family would be attending the Weasley-Potter Christmas dinner.

Scorp was lying on Rose's bed trying to help her pack, but in reality he was just a distraction. She huffed from where she was sitting on the floor, trying to sort what she needed to take home.

"Why is it taking you so long, it took me like 5 minutes?" Scorp was being extremely unhelpful, and was just messing with the crap he found around Rose's bed.

"Well I'm not just going to throw all my clothes in my trunk and call it good! I need to decide what needs to go home for washing, what can stay at home because I don't need it anymore, what I will need during break. And could you please stop playing with my stuff."

"It's only a couple weeks Rosie!" Scorpius said fiddling with her iPod. A lot of muggle born wizards, including Sarah, had started bringing them to school, since their cell phones wouldn't work here (no service for miles). Rose had gotten one a couple of years ago. "How does this even work?!"

Rose laughed climbing onto the bed. "I'll have to explain it some other time. I'm going to miss you Scorp."

Scorp looked up from the tiny screen. "I'll see you on Christmas, I'm coming for dinner, remember?"

Rose nodded. She hoped everything would go alright. She prayed that everything would be alright. 

"Speaking of Christmas," Rose changed the subject, "what do you want?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Whatever you think would suit me. But I have to warn you, I have the perfect gift for you."

Rose had no clue what the perfect gift could be. That put on the pressure for Rose to get him something great as well. "Scorp! You have to give some sort of idea!"

Scorpius just smiled and shrugged again. "You'll figure it out." He threw her iPod into her trunk, as if to say that was the end of the discussion.

Rose groaned in frustration and got up to grab her shoes by the door.

"What's this?" Rose heard Scorpius say. She turned around to see him holding up the picture of him he gave me last year in the explosion box.

"Oh I forgot about that, I was going to sell it to a third year. Still might actually."

Scorpius got up and stalked up to her. "I don't think you were," he said, a grin forming on his face "I bet you were keeping it so you could secretly look at it when nobody was watching."

Rose snorted. "Says the one with a picture of me in their their sock drawer."

Scorpius paled. "What?"

"You know," Rose teased, "The one with us dancing at the ball last year. I saw it in your drawer when I dyed your socks pink."

Scorpius started to sputter. "That wasn't- I wasn't. CJ had it on the table and I thought-"

Rose gave him a quick kiss on the lips to shut him up. "It's fine. Actually kind of cute to know you had a crush on me way back then."

Scorp smiled and grabbed Roe's wrist, pulling her back to him.

"Well you know I am a romantic."

Rose wrapped her arms around his neck and was about to kiss him again when the door banged open.

"NO BEING ALONE IN THE DORMITORY. YOU MUST HAVE SUPERVISION."

Dominique was great at ruining a moment.

...

Rose walked off the train at Kings Cross Station, her trunk in one hand and Scorpius in the other. She gave Sarah one last hug before turning to Scorpius.

"Well I guess I better go find my parents," Rose said.

"Don't look now, but both our parents are watching us." Rose started to turn her head, but he reached out and tilted it back so he could lean down and press his lips gently to hers. She lost herself in the moment, forgetting that her entire family probably had their eyes on them. He pulled away quickly, however, and whispered, "I'll see you at Christmas."

Rose gave him a peck on the cheek and they parted our separate ways. Rose spotted the family almost immediately, her dad looking angry, her mum giving her an uneasy smile, Uncle Harry looking amused and Aunt Ginny looking proud.

Hugo, James, Al, and Lily were already there. They had been waiting on Rose.

Rose cautiously approached them. "Hi Mum, Dad," she said giving both her parents a hug.

"Rosie," her dad said sternly, "You are making good choices aren't you?"

Ginny threw up her hands. "Oh give it a rest Ron! She just gave her boyfriend a kiss goodbye, that's it! I seem to remember in your sixth year you were dating a certain Lavender Brown-"

"Alright, Alright. I just want to make sure she's not making any rash decisions."

Rose's mom sighed. "Ronald, she just got off the train, let's wait to lecture her until we get home."

This was going to be a long Christmas vacation.

...

It was two days before Christmas, and Rose hadn't even finished her shopping yet. She called the Potter household to see if they wanted to go do some last minute Christmas shopping with her and Hugo. Rose figured, knowing Al and James, they probably still had to buy all of their gifts still and Lily would already have hers done except a few odds and ends. She was completely right.

Rose and Hugo met them at the Leaky Cauldron, even though the Potter house was literally across town from them. The boys immediately split up from Lilly and Rose, since Al and James had to still buy Lily a present. And although he didn't admit it, Rose knew Hugo hadn't got his sister's yet either.

"So what else do you have to buy?" Lily asked as they wove their way through the aisles in Flourish and Blotts. Rose figured she'd get Nicola a book on that band she was always raving on about.

"Well I have to stop by the Quidditch shop and get an Appleby Arrow jersey for Lu, but don't tell anyone that's who I drew! I also need to get some of those fizzy things you put in your bath for mum at Monique's Bath and Body. I already have Hugo's, Dad's, and Sarah's gifts so that only leaves Scorpius's and I have no clue what to give him!"

"How about a book on The Hobgoblins?" Lily said, holding up a book that looked like it had been there for at least half a century.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Come on Lil, what do you think Scorp would like? He said he got me the perfect gift, so it can't be anything stupid!"

"I'm sure he'll love whatever you end up giving him."

She was probably right, but Rose still wanted to get him something that he would remember.

The boys weren't anymore helpful than Lily when they met up with them at Monique's Bath and Body.

"Al, he's your best friend. You have got know what he would like!"

"I don't know," Albus said looking at a bottle of Fast Acting Hair removal cream, "Maybe some socks?"

Rose snatched the bottle of his hands. "Socks?! Focus Albus, we need something that he would think is perfect!"

"Socks are perfect. Hey do you Dom would like any of this stuff? I got her name."

Rose dragged him over to all the fancy bath soaps and bubbles and told him to take his pick. She bought some fizzy bath bombs for her mom (it was a magical bath bomb, so you never were quite sure what was going to happen. The package said that "It would make you feel like you are in the Amazon" whatever that meant), and then the cousins headed onwards.

Hugo and Lily were picking out some fancy quills for Hu to give to Molly when Albus suddenly said:

"Oh yeah Rose, I wanted to show you what I got Sarah." Al reached his hand in one of the bags and pulled out a small wrapped parcel. Inside was a beautiful silver moon necklace.

It was engraved in shiny black lettering "Moon of My Life".

"I figured she likes that Game of Thrones show, and it comes with another one but it's a sun and apparently that one I'm supposed to keep and then when they are together they will glow blue or something. Do you think she'll like it?"

"Al she'll absolutely love it!" Rose squealed.

"Really?" His face lit up. "I wasn't sure, I'm not very good at picking out gifts."

Rose squeezed his shoulder. "It's perfect for her, I guarantee she'll love it."

He wrapped it back up and put into the bag. "I'm sure we'll find something for Scorp," he said, "We'll take all day if we have to."

Rose laughed. "Thanks Al. I have a question, do you know what Scorp got me?"

"No."

Rose stared at her cousin really hard. She had known that boy all of her life and he still thought he could keep stuff from her. Please. "Albus I know you're lying."

"Alright," he admitted, "I know what he got you. But I'm not going to tell you what it is!"

Rose honestly didn't want to know, because that would spoil the surprise. But she did want to know one thing.

"Al, am I going to love it?"

He broke out into a huge grin. "Absolutely."

Rose sighed. "Well, the search continues."

...

Later on, the only gifts they needed to find between the five of them was James gift for his mum and Rose's gift for Scorpius.

It was at a little shop that was easily overlooked and filled with odds and ends that Rose finally saw it.

Rose asked the shopkeeper about it, and he informed her all she needed to know.

She was pretty certain Scorpius would like it. 

It was perfect.


	26. The Perfect Gift

"Rosie! Happy Christmas!"

Rose woke up to Hugo jumping on her bed as every Christmas. 

"Happy Christmas Hu! You are getting too heavy to jump on my bed."

"Never!" he shouted cheerfully. "Come on, Mum and Dad are waiting for us downstairs already!"

Rose pulled back her covers and looked at the end of her bed. A nice pile of presents lay there waiting for her to open them. Hu helped her carry them down to where her parents were waiting on the couch, sipping some early morning coffee.

Rose opened her presents from her Aunts and Uncles first, her favorite of which was a mini figurine dragon from my Uncle Charlie. He apparently gotten each of his nieces and nephews a different breed of dragon. Rose's was a Antipodean Opaleye, a gorgeous pearly dragon. She named her Scarlet, after the little dragon walked around, spewing Scarlet flames everywhere.

Rose's mum and dad got her a telescope. Astronomy was always one of her favorite subjects, right behind Potions.

"Aww thanks Rosie," Hu said when he opened the present she had given to him. She had gotten him a frame with a picture of the two of them laughing on their vacation last year. The engraving on the frame changed to a different saying every day. Today it simply read "Happy Christmas Hugo" with a tiny heart.

Rose was already wearing the St. Mungo's t-shirt Hu had gotten her (all proceeds from the sales went to the Hospital fund) that said "Future Healer".

"No present from Scorp?" Dad asked as she tore open her last present from Sarah.

"We decided to give them to each other at dinner today."

Rose laughed when she saw that Sarah had gotten her a blanket with Peeta Mellark, one of her favorite muggle book characters, on it.

"That's lovely," her mum said, "Now we have to get going soon, so I can help Ginny and Harry prepare for dinner. There's a lot of people coming this year, even more than last year!"

Rose ran upstairs to quickly get ready and grab her gift for Scorp. It was neatly gift-wrapped in a small golden box.

Before they left Rose put on her sweater from Nana, as tradition, and then dialed up Sarah on the phone.

"Happy Christmas Rose!" she sang through the phone, "I loved your present! I may have screamed because the first thing I saw was a man standing in my room. And then I was confused because why was Benedict Cumberbatch in my room. And then I was relieved when I saw he was cardboard. Then I was confused again because how did you get that in my room?"

Rose laughed. "I had it shipped to your house, and your mum set it up for me. I loved your present too! I'm going to take Peeta with me to Christmas Dinner."

"I asked dad if I could bring Benedict to Granddad's but he said no. Oh my gosh! Albus's present to me is the most amazing thing! Did you help pick it out?"

"No he did it all by himself!" Rose exclaimed, "Aren't you proud of him?"

Sarah agreed that he did extremely well. Rose's mum called up the stairs to her, saying they were leaving soon, so she said her goodbyes and jumped down the stairs.

"Little excited Rose?" Hugo asked, amused by her enthusiasm.

"Of course! Weasley-Potter Christmas is my favorite day all year!"

Rose got into the fireplace, gift in hand and Peeta blanket around her neck and disappeared through the fire to the Potter house.

Even though it was just across town.

But why waste the time to drive there when you can just use the fireplace.

"Rose!" Al shouted, as soon as she appeared in his house, "My parents got me a new broom for Christmas!"

"That's awesome!" Rose said jumping out of the fireplace, and quickly dusting herself and Peeta off. "Lemme see!"

Rose loved arriving at the Potter's house early to Christmas dinner for multiple reasons. Number one was that Nan was cooking when they arrived, and when Rose walked into the kitchen to wish her a happy Christmas, the smell of ham and potatoes was already in the air.

The second reason was that out of all her cousins, Rose spent the most time growing up with the Potters. It was nice comparing gifts and chatting before the chaotic-ness of all the family coming over ensued.

The third reason was it was a tradition that Al and Rose sat on the couch while people were arriving. The children of course would always come by the floo network, and most of the adults did as well, otherwise they apparated onto the back porch which the two had a great view of from where they were sitting. They liked to make bets on who would arrive next.

Rose predicted, and was right, that Aunt Fleur would want to come help with dinner so that family would come first. Louis came over and thanked Rose for the jersey. He was wearing it under his sweater. Dom came and sat with them for a bit, before getting bored and going to the kitchen to help out.

Uncle Percy, Aunt Audrey, and Lucy came next, followed by Uncle George, Aunt Angelina, Fred, and Roxy. Roxy never had the patience to sit with Al and Rose either, so she bounced off to go bug James and Fred.

As dinner grew closer, more and more people started to arrive. Teddy and Victoire arrived hand in hand, as usual. As soon as Vic saw Rose, she squealed and said, "Rosie! Let me just say that I knew that you and Scorpius would be a cute couple since I saw you first year. I called it, didn't I Teddy?"

Teddy nodded. "She did."

"Anyways, guess what. Molly is bringing a _boy_ to dinner."

Al started choking on the toffee he was eating. Rose stared at her wide eyed.

"I know right?" continued Vic, "She had actually came to me for advice the other day. Apparently she has been dating him in secret for a couple months, and wanted to know if she should invite him to dinner. I couldn't believe it! Molly coming to me for dating advice!"

It was something that Rose thought was never going to happen. Honestly she thought Molly was going to be a lonely cat lady.

The Dursleys pulled up in the driveway, and Perry and Jack came and joined them in the living room.

"Hey, thanks for the book Jack!" Rose said when he walked in.

"Don't let him fool you, I picked it out," Aunt Katherine said smiling.

Albus guessed that Hagrid would come next, but actually Uncle Neville and Aunt Hannah appeared followed by Hagrid. Aunt Luna and her family arrived, Ly bringing along his girlfriend Amelie. I hadn't seen Ly and Lorcan since they had finished Hogwarts, so Rose got up and gave them both a hug. Lee Jordan, his wife, and his children arrived, making a big scene when Lee saw his best friend, Uncle George. Molly came with her pretentious looking boyfriend. His name was Stephen, she introduced. Rose had never seen Molly look at anybody that way before. It was nice to see Molly in love. 

Finally the person Rose had been waiting for finally arrived. The fire roared to life, and Scorpius appeared in the flames. Rose leapt up and walked to him, conscience of all the people in the room.

As soon as he saw her, his eyes twinkled and he grinned holding out his arms. Rose fell into them, wrapping her arms around his torso and he pulled her closer until he could kiss her on top of her head.

"Happy Christmas Scorp," Rose said burrowing her head into his shoulder.

"Happy Christmas Rose."

There was a cough behind them, and Rose pulled away noticing that everyone in the room was watching them. Albus got up grinning and walked over to them.

"Way to make a scene guys."

Scorpius's mum and dad appeared outside on the back porch, Astoria carrying a dish in her hand. Draco held the door open for his wife, and she waved hello to everyone in the room.

Aunt Ginny came over from where she was talking with Luna to greet them. They nodded nicely to her and Aunt Ginny grabbed the dish and took it to the kitchen.

Astoria and Draco came over to where Rose and Scorpius were standing.

"Hello Albus!" Astoria said, hugging him. "I believe you have gotten taller since the last time I saw you."

Draco stuck out his hand and Albus shook it, before both his parents turned to Rose.

"And you must be Rose," Astoria said smiling. Rose was taken by surprise when she hugged her as well. When Astoria pulled away, her eyes sparkled like her son's always did. "It's great to finally meet you. Scorpius has told me so much about you."

Rose shook Scorpius's father's hand who said, "Indeed, I've heard probably more about what you have done at school for the last 5 years than what he has done."

Scorpius gave him a sour look. "Dad."

"You have the hair like your father, that's for sure," he continued, "But your face looks more like your mom."

Scorp sighed and said, "Shouldn't you two be going to talk to anybody else?"

Astoria threw her head back and laughed. "Alright, we will leave you alone. Come on Draco, there must be someone here who didn't hate you in school that we can talk to."

When his parents left, Scorpius turned to Rose. "Sorry about them."

"They're fine," she replied, "Way better than my parents probably. I think we should steer clear of them tonight."

As Rose watched his parent's go around the room, she realized how out of place they must of felt. Pretty much everyone in her family did hate the Malfoy's, and most still held a slight grudge. It helped that Astoria seemed very sweet and easy to talk to. But Draco, on the other hand ,didn't talk to anyone and mostly stayed behind his wife. The Malfoys had been invited to every family Christmas since Albus became friends with Scorp, but this was the first one they had actually attended. Draco and Astoria must really love their son to give up their own Christmas Day, to spend time with people that didn't like them. 

"Were we the last ones here?" Scorpius asked, snapping Rose out of my thoughts.

"No," Rose said looking at the back porch, "We still are waiting for one more person, but he's always late."

"Who?"

Just then there was a loud crack, and Uncle Charlie appeared on the porch.

"Sorry, am I late? I got caught up at the office."

Rose ran over to give him a hug. "No, you're not late Uncle Charlie. And you don't work in an office?"

"Office, dragon sanctuary, same thing," he said, squeezing her and picking her up off her feet, "How are ya Rose?"

She laughed, "Great, I loved the gift! Could you put me down?"

Nana came out and called for dinner. Everyone filed into the enlarged dining room, and took their seats around the table. Scorpius and Rose sat next to each other, his parents nearby sitting by Aunt Luna. That's one of the loveable things about Aunt Luna, she never was one to hold a grudge.

The Malfoys seemed very uncomfortable, Rose thought they've must have never been to such large family dinners. Malfoy had only got a slice of the chaos during the summer.

Uncle Harry stood up and clanked his glass. The table quieted down.

"Thank you all for coming to another Christmas. I do believe in a couple years we will have to rent out a banquet hall, because our friends and family just keep getting bigger. I would say we should hire a caterer, but I love Molly's mashed potatoes too much." Nana's cheeks turned red, but was grinning from ear to ear. "It's been a wonderful year, and I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. Let's eat!"

Cheers erupted up and down the table, and everyone started passing the plates of food around. The chatter soon became loud, as people talked about what's new and cracked jokes about each other.

Everyone was impressed at the news of Perry's amazing keeping skills last game, but almost equally amazed at Albus's great catch.

"Just like your Dad," boomed Lee Jordan, "He broke his arm playing too you know? Second year, I was the announcer. It was beautiful."

Hagrid, Luna's husband Rolf, and Charlie all chatted about the dragons that Charlie was taking care of.

"You both will have to come see them. The sanctuary is a great place for them to be raised. Some Peruvian Vipertooths just hatched, they are quite adorable."

Astoria was having a lovely conversation with Aunt Ginny.

"It's so nice of you to invite us to these families gatherings. Scorpius doesn't have much family to spend time with," Astoria explained, "You know Draco was an only child, and my sister lives in America now. It's good for him to get to know this family bonding that you all of have."

"Of course," Ginny said, "He is able to come whenever he likes, we love to have him!"

"Well perhaps we will see a lot more of each other," Scorp's mom said, giving a pointing look towards him. Scorpius pretended not to hear that.

After dinner, Scorp and Rose helped carry dishes to the kitchen. When Rose walked in, she couldn't help but close her eyes and sigh at the smell of the gingerbread cookies baking.

It was getting dark outside when Scorpius's father informed him they were getting ready to leave. Scorpius told him he needed 15 more minutes before turning to Rose.

"Ready for you present?"

She smiled at him. "Let me give you mine first."

She ran and grabbed his present where she had sat it on the Potter's mantle.

"Why don't we go somewhere more private," Scorp said when she returned, "Do you have a coat you could borrow?"

...

He led her out to the tiny gazebo in the Potter's back yard. Outside a light snow was falling through the chilly air. Lights were hung around the gazebo, and Rose realized that Scorpius must of had this planned.

She handed him the gift she had gotten him, and nervously watched as he unwrapped it. Inside was the replica of a golden snitch that she had found in the shop.

"You have to ask it to open." Rose said. He looked up at her a twinkle in his eyes before putting the snitch to his mouth and whispering open.

The snitch broke in two and soft music filled the air. A tiny image of two partners dancing emerged, a boy with white hair and a girl with red and a green dress.

"This is the song we danced to." Rose nodded. "And that's us."

The music stopped and the snitch closed.

"It's beautiful Rose. Absolutely beautiful."

A grin spread on her face. "I'm glad you think so."

"Now," he said, a mischievous smirk on his face, "I'm going to need you to close your eyes."

Rose did so and felt his soft lips kiss her cheek. She shivered as he walked away, hearing him step off the gazebo. A few moments later, he returned.

"Alright, Rose. Open"

Rose gasped when she saw what he had gotten her. In his hand was the most beautiful owl she had ever seen in a cage. Silvery feathers and dark galaxy speckled eyes. 

"Do you like her?"

Rose finally caught her breath. "She's amazing! I-I don't know what to say..."

Scorpius handed the cage to her, and Rose held her up so she could get a better look at her.

"Scorp, she's so beautiful! How did you- when did you?"

"I had Ginny go pick her up in the shop for me. She's been living here for the past couple of days."

"I love her."

Scorpius came up beside Rose, making her breath hitch as he ran his finger down her cheek.

"I'm glad. There's one last thing before I go..."

Confused Rose looked up at his shining grey eyes. "What?"

He grabbed her owl's cage and set it down on the ground. "Look up," he whispered.

Rose glanced upwards.

Mistletoe.


	27. The Date

Rose was sitting in her favorite chair in the library in front of the fireplace. Just arriving back from break this morning, her homework was long done weeks ago, giving her the chance to relax and read the book that Jack had given her for Christmas.

She heard someone come up behind and wrap their arms around her.

"This better be Scorpius..."

Rose heard a chuckle and Scorp bent over so he could kiss her on the forehead before he walked around and sat in the chair next to her.

"You look comfortable," he stated.

"I am. You know that this was one of the scents I smelled when we made the Amortentia?"

A confused look came across his face. "The library?" he asked.

"Well specifically right in front of the fireplace. That and the kitchen when Grandma is making gingerbread at Christmas." Rose closed her eyes for a moment to image the smell.

Scorp nodded, "Both lovely. What's the third?"

Rose paled, suddenly remembering what else she had smelled. "Third?"

"Yeah. You are supposed to smell three scents."

"Uhmm I don't remember it," she stammered

A grin broke out onto his face. He knew she was lying. "Rose what is it?"

"What was yours?" Rose challenged.

"I'm not telling you mine, until you tell me yours."

Rose shook her head. "Well, guess I'll never know." She grabbed her book and got up to leave.

Scorpius was up on his feet in seconds standing in front of her.

"I will find out," he said, matter of factly.

Rose crossed her arms. "Oh will you?"

He nodded. "I will. But not now. For now let's just enjoy this fire."

She let him lead her back to where she kicked off her shoes and curled up next to him in the big chair.

But she knew he wasn't going to drop it that easy.

...

The next evening, after a long day back of classes, Rose wanted nothing more than to go to take a nap. Instead she had to finish a Defense Against the Dark Arts essay that was unfortunately due on Wednesday.

She was in mid-essay, sitting in the common room, when there was a loud knock on the outside wall. Rose got up to go open it, and there stood her boyfriend, holding flowers.

"What's this for?" Rose smiled, taking them from him.

"This is the first thing I smelled when we made Amortentia. My mum has a garden full of them."

Rose brought the flowers to her face, and inhaled the sweet smell. They smelled like honey.

"They are lovely Scorp," Rose said, "Thank you."

His face broke out into a huge grin. "Good, because that is only part one. I'm taking you on a date."

Rose sighed. "I'd love that, but I have to finish my essay..."

"I knew you'd say that," Scorpius said, "So that's why I'm taking you on a date in one hour. Meet on the first floor, by the painting of the winged horse race."

Rose knew of the painting, it was right in the front hall. She always loved going to the races with her Uncle Bill, so Rose often stopped and watched it for awhile when passing by.

"Alright. One hour?"

"One hour," Scorp confirmed. Then he gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Now hurry up and finish your essay."

Rose closed the door shaking her head, wondering what that boy had in store for her.

...

"I don't want to wear a blindfold."

Rose glared at the scarf Scorpius was holding in his hand. Having Scorp lead her through the castle without her being able to see where they were going did not sound fun.

"Come on Rosie," he pestered, "It's part of the date!"

"You'll probably let me fall down a flight of stairs! I don't fancy going to the hospital ward tonight."

"I won't let that happen. Don't you trust me?"

Rose did. A year ago she wouldn't of trusted him with anything. But now she would trust him with her life.

Rose grabbed the scarf from his hand, and he smirked. He helped her tie it around her eyes tight so she couldn't see anything.

"Alright, now walk with me this way..."

Scorpius grabbed her hips and urged her forward. He led her down a long hallway, and they made a couple turns. At first Rose tried to make a mental image in her mind of where she thought they were at. But soon she gave that up, after turning where she thought there was a solid wall.

"Alright Rose we are approaching some steps. Here comes the first one. Good, next one. "

He led her down the rest of the stairs, they turned a few times until he stopped her. 

"Don't take off your blindfold until I tell you to," Scorp said, "Ok?"

"Alright. If you led me somewhere like the locker rooms I'm going to be so mad."

Scorpius just laughed, and stepped away from Rose, leaving her blind and now with no one to stable her.

She heard what sounded like a giggle, which was confused her. Then she heard a door open. She jumped a little when Scorpius touched her again and he lead her foreward. 

A waft of a delicious smell rushed over Rose. She heard pots and pans banging, bodies bustling around.

"Are we in the kitchen?"

Scorpius didn't reply, and instead led Rose over to what she assumed was a stool.

"Ok Rose, before I let you take off the blindfold, I want you to take a deep breath and tell me what you smell."

Rose could smell a lot of different foods, but the strongest by far was fresh baking bread. Her mouth started to water as she could almost taste the buttery fluffiness of a loaf.

Rose felt Scorpius reach behind her head and untie the scarf. Suddenly the light flooded in blinding her. When she could see again, she saw that she was indeed in the kitchen, sitting in front of the brick oven. Inside was a fresh loaf rising.

Rose turned around to see Scorpius smiling at her.

"This is the second thing I smelled that day in potions. My grandmother on my mother's side always makes me a loaf of bread when I come over. She makes the best bread I've ever tasted."

"It smells delicious."

The timer dinged and a house elf came and got it out of the oven. The elf brought the piping hot bread to the counter beside Rose.

Scorpius thanked the elf, and grabbed a knife to cut off a piece of it. Rose bit into it and melted when the warm buttery goodness filled her mouth.

Scorpius smiled at the look on Rose's face. "I take it that you like it?"

"Uh-huh," she said, still eating.

They both took second helpings of the bread, and then a third before Scorpius told Rose it was time for part three. The final part of the date.

"Do I have to be blindfolded again? I appreciate the sentiment of it being a surprise where we are going, but it's really annoying not knowing where I am walking."

Scorpius laughed. "No, there's too many flights of stairs to the next part. You'd most definitely fall."

Rose rolled her eyes and took his outstretched hand. They headed up the stairs to the destination unbeknownst to Rose .

"How's Artemis adjusting to the Hogwarts life?" Scorp asked as they trekked up to the second floor.

"She loves it here. I went and visited her last night. She seems to have made some friends already." Rose swung their clasped hands back and forth as they rounded off to the next staircase.

"Of course she has, she's the prettiest owl in the whole owlery."

"Even prettier than Scipio?" Rose teased.

Scorpius grimaced, "Every owl is prettier than Scipio. I swear my father picked the ugliest out of the lot."

Rose shoved him playfully, "Don't be so mean to him, he's a fine owl! Better an ugly one than one who gets lost."

"That's true. Albus really has the worst luck with animals doesn't he?"

Rose laughed, "Hey the ferret wasn't so bad! It just ran away. All the time."

"Who could blame it, it was living with Al."

They made their way up staircase after staircase until Rose finally had an idea where they were going. The astronomy tower.

But she didn't expect when she opened the door to the observatory to see a big soft pillow and blankets in the middle of the room.

The breath was taken out of her, and not just because of the all the flights of stairs they just climbed. "What's all this?"

"I thought we could do some star-gazing." Malfoy said from behind her. She turned around and saw he was at the wall. He reached down and started to turn the crank.

Rose had been up in the observatory a thousand times for astronomy. But all those times looking at the stars for class was nothing like this.

She looked up, watching in awe as the cover was removed from the roof above. The cold January air rushed in, biting her face, but she ignored it. She kept my eyes focused on the sky as slowly above the stars twinkled into sight.

Scorpius came up behind her and draped a coat onto her shoulders. He led her over to where the blankets and pillows were laid in the middle of the room.

He had thought of everything. Two heat orbs (WWW originals) laid beside them, keeping them warm from the cold. Rose laid down, looking up at the sky above.

"It's so beautiful," she said, "It looks so different right now than it usually does."

Scorpius laid down beside her and Rose snuggled up next to him laying her head in the crook of his neck.

They lay like that for awhile in silence, gazing up at the stars.

Rose was content to lay like that forever.

"It was you. That's what I smelled that day in potions," she said in a whisper, "Like when you hold me close to you, and I am burrowed into your shirt.

She expected Scorpius to break out into a smirk and say something sarcastic. Instead he kissed her hair on the side of her head.

"Your hair," he said, "My third thing was your hair, when your head is leaning up next to me, and it falls on top of me."

Rose's heart soared hearing that. The smell of her hair was one of the things he was most attracted to. She was what he was most attracted to. 

"I love you Scorpius." Rose said, her eyes starting to close.

"I love you too Rose."

She fell asleep, his arms around her.

She woke up to Scorpius gently shaking her.

"Rose...Rose it's starting to snow. We better get back to our rooms."

She sleepily nodded and he helped her to her feet. He closed the door, keeping the snow from getting in, and then came and wrapped an arm around Rose's waist as they descended down.

In front of the Gryffindor common room entrance, he gave Rose a gentle kiss goodnight.

"Till tomorrow my sweet Rose."


	28. Potter & Potter vs Potter

As February drew to a close everyone had the same thing on their minds.

Quidditch.

In one week the biggest game of the year was going to occur. In fact it was going to be the only time in Hogwarts history that all three of the Potter siblings would be playing in the same match. 

Saying that Albus was nervous was an understatement. It was one thing having to play against both of his brother and his sister. But he was also going to have to go head to head against James to catch the snitch.

In the weeks leading up to it that was the only thing on Albus's mind. Sarah, Scorp, and Rose tried to keep him busy doing other things to keep him distracted, but nothing worked. It was impossible to get it off his mind. 

What made things even worse was his parents were coming to watch the game as well.

Al begged them not to come. But Aunt Ginny was adamant, since it was the only game she would be able to see all three of her kids. 

Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw played the week before the big game. As expected, Hufflepuff slaughtered Ravenclaw. Perry played an amazing game per usual, and Roxy played great too, being the only one who scored off of Per.

This put Ravenclaw in last place. Roxy did not care too much, it was too be expected. 

The night before the game, Lily and Rose decided it was best to give James a little talk.

They cornered him after the dinner, on the second floor.

"We are not saying go easy on him. We are saying that you are not going to taunt him or purposely get him angry, alright?"

"Me?" James asked, "I would never do that to my brother."

Lily rose her eyebrows, "Uhm, excuse me but remember two summers ago at Nana's when you were seeking against each other and you made him so mad he tackled you off his broom?"

"I was young. Naive. Ignorant."

"Still are," Rose added.

James glared at me. "Alright, Alright. I'm still going to be my awesome best Quidditch player self, but I will attempt to refrain from calling him names. Jeez, it's like I'm four year old. You guys sound like mum."

He got two smacks in the arm. 

...

The next morning Sarah and Rose went early to breakfast to hopefully catch Al before the big game. He was sitting at a table, Scorp next to him, attempting to eat some toast.

Rose tried to give him a little pep talk. "Stop worrying so much Al, you'll do fine. Even if you don't win, that's alright! James does have four years more of Quidditch experience than you."

Al nodded his head, solemnly looking at his toast. Sarah and Rose exchanged worried glances. After a few minutes of awkward conversation, Scorp decided that they should head to the locker room.

"Good luck," Rose said kissing Scorp on the cheek goodbye. Sarah had Albus in a tight embrace. He had his eyes closed, holding on to her as she whispered words of encouragement in his ear.

"Come on Al, we gotta go."

Sarah and Albus parted, Sarah giving him one last kiss. Rose gave Al a reassuring squeeze on the arm before they left.

"You'll be fine Al. I'll see you after the game."

Al gave her a weak smile. "Thanks Rosie. See you then."

...

The family ended up all sitting together due to them all rooting for both teams. Dom, Roxy, Sarah, and Rose were on one bench. Hu, Louis, Jack, Lucy, and Perry sat behind them. It was a chilly March morning, and everybody was bundled up in sweaters and scarves.

They held up their signs, some crimson and gold while the others silver and green. The crowd erupted into cheers as both teams came onto the field. Calum's voice erupted from around the stadium.

_Good Morning everyone and welcome to another great day of Quidditch! Today is the highly anticipated game Gryffindor versus Slytherin, where siblings Lily and James Potter will go head to head with their brother Albus. We also have some special guests with us in the box today: the siblings parents, the famous Harry and Ginny Potter. Headmistress says that I have to watch what I say because of this._

James walked over and shook hands with Daniel, and gave a nod to Al. Al nodded solemnly back.

Madam Angelina walked out and said something to both of the teams, all heads nodding in agreement. The whistle blew, and everyone took off!

_Lily Potter catches the quaffle right away! She passes it to Snyder. Snyder to- oh! Slytherin chaser Malfoy intercepts the throw! He passes it to Seeley. Seeley throws it!- And an incredible catch by Gryffindor Keeper Louise Wood! Potter has the quaffle now. Lily that is, I'm pretty sure that it would be illegal if one of the other Potter's had it. Maybe I should of read that handbook of rules I was given when offered this job..._

_OH A BLUDGER IS HEADING TOWARDS LILY'S HEAD, WATCH OUT LI- and Fred Weasley saves her, hitting straight at Slytherin beater Lawson ooooh that's gotta hurt. Bludger to the hand. Weasley goes to see if he's alright, Lawson's shaking it off he's all good. The sportsmanship! This is nothing like the pros folks. Remember last year when the Bulgarian beater beat the sh-sorry apparently that is not relevant. Oh! Lily Potter is by the goalposts! When did that happen? She throws it...LILY POTTER SCORES TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR! Mama Ginny is proud. Oh apparently that wasn't professional, my bad._

As the game went on, Albus started to look more relaxed. At one point James flew past and said something. Rose looked through her binoculars and saw Al smiling at whatever James had said. That was a good sign.

Lily was on fire out there, scoring another goal. 

Scorpius was doing decent as well, but Rose knew he wasn't happy with his performance. When he made his first goal, they all jumped up and cheered. He swung around high fiving his teammates with that cocky little smirk of his.

Dang he looked good in his Quidditch robes.

It was getting to be a long game. Gryffindor was ahead 80-70. James and Albus were at opposite ends of the pitch. Suddenly James shot forward about 10 feet and reached out his hand.

_Did that just? Did James Potter just catch the snitch? HE DID JAMES POTTER CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS! How did that even happen? That boy has some eye!_

Both teams landed, and the Gryffindor team went and tackled James. James broke away and went and shook both Daniel Tommens and Scorpius's hands and then gave Albus a bear hug. Lily came bounding over to join in. Fred ran over and tackled them all.

The family all rushed the field to congratulate the Gryffindor team and to compliment the Slytherin.

Rose ran over to Scorp and gave him a hug.

"You did great!"

Scorp sighed, "Not really. "

She punched him lightly in the arm. "Shut up, you did awesome. You made three goals!"

He grumbled something, but she was unable to hear because she was pulled away by Roxy to go see James and Albus.

Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny came down to see their children, smiling.

"Good game guys!" Aunt Ginny said, pulling in a reluctant James in for a hug.

"You all did amazing," Harry said ruffling Al's hair, "And I am proud of you boys for keeping it professional."

"Whatcha think I was going to do Dad? Knock him off his broom?"

"That's what I do," shrugged Roxy.

Fred gave her a high five. "Same."

Rose chatted with her family for a few moments, before turning to go find Scorpius again. She looked all around, but she didn't see his familiar blonde hair.

"Hey Al, did you see where Scorp went?"

Albus shrugged from where he was standing with his arm around Sarah's shoulders. "He probably went to the locker room. It was a rough game for him."

"Yeah...probably."

Rose couldn't help but be a teeny bit worried. It wasn't like him to just leave without saying goodbye. Hopefully when she saw him later tonight, everything would be alright.


	29. Tears

"Victory party tonight in the room of requirement!" James shouted as he stepped into the common room. Cheers erupted because who doesn't like a good party?

Everyone was going to this victory party, from any of the houses. Victory parties were always crazy; just last week at the Hufflepuff one three students went missing. They were eventually found the next day around one in the afternoon locked in a broom closet on the third floor.

This was a big game and the party was bound to be huge, hence the use of the not so secret anymore room of requirement. 

James was still on a high from the win, and was being extremely obnoxious.

"I can't wait to get my party on tonight!" he shouted at the dinner table that night. They all rolled their eyes. He had said that about five times already.

Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry came over and said their goodbyes to the kids.

"Be careful," Aunt Ginny said, " All of you. I went to my fair share of victory parties. I know what goes on."

"Yeah," said Uncle Harry, "You should of seen your mum in her fifth year, she used to-ow! Never mind."

After they had left, Rose gave one last glance around the hall for Scorp.

"Al, are you sure Scorp is alright? I haven't seen him since the match."

Al shrugged. "I haven't seen him since the locker rooms. I bet he'll be at the party though, he said he would."

Rose nodded and looked around once more. Sarah put her hand reassuringly on her arm.

"He's alright Rose," she said, "He's probably just a little upset over the match."

"Yeah...probably."

...

That night, Sarah and Rose casually made their way to the room of requirement. It was best if people went in small groups, that way no one would attract the attention of a professor.

The girls carefully walked back and forth in front of the room thinking _I want to go to the party_. The door appeared in front of them, and they slipped inside.

The party was already starting to be in full swing. People were milling around, lounging on the couches, eating food.

Rose looked around for Scorpius, but she couldn't see him anywhere.

"Look there's Roxy! Let's go see her!"

They chatted with Roxy for a bit, and others that came around. Dom excitingly told us about the letter she had received that day from Will.

"It was so cute! In the last letter he asked if I would be coming this summer to Nan's house and I told him that I assumed so since I had been going there every summer since I was born. Then in today's letter he said that he's counting down the days until he can see me! Isn't that adorable?!"

Rose smiled and nodded. "That is adorable Dom, I'm happy you finally found the right guy for you! Even if you've only met him twice in real life."

Dom rolled her eyes at Rose. "Yeah but I feel like I really know him! I mean we've been exchanging letters for months! I've got a plan."

Sarah and Rose both raised their eyebrows.

"It's a good one!" Dom insisted. "By this summer I will hopefully of passed my apparation test! Then I can visit him all the time, and just tell him that I'm living at Nan's for the summer. Then we will continue exchanging letters during my seventh year, and then afterwards I can finally date him officially. Once we become serious, I'll drop the whole wizard thing on him, and we'll get married and live happily ever after!"

Rose snorted, "Yeah, that's if he takes the whole wizarding thing well, and doesn't check himself into a mental institution."

Dom gave her a sour look. "He'll take it well. Because he'll love me."

Sarah laughed, "That sounds like a great plan Dom, I'm glad you have this all figured out. What's the wedding colors going to be?"

Dom glared at them, "You laugh now, just you wait. And they are going to be silver and lavender."

"I honestly hope that happens Dom," Rose said, then she saw Scorpius walk into the room. "Excuse me."  
She strode up to him.

"Hey Scorp," she said warmly. His response was a little nod.

"Oh, hey Rose."

Her smile weakened just a tiny bit. "I haven't seen you all day, where have you been?"

He glanced around the room, trying to avoid her gaze. "Nowhere. Sorry, I need to talk to Daniel."

And with that he brushed past her. Rose turned and watched his silver hair as her walked away from her. Sarah came up from behind.

"Are you ok Rose? What did he say?".

Rose took a deep breath and turned around. "Nothing. He's being weird. Let's go have fun."

...

The rest of the night Scorpius didn't talk to Rose. Not once. She tried having fun dancing and talking with her friends. But she couldn't help constantly rake her eyes around the room to try to find him in the crowd. Finally she had had enough. She was going to hunt him down and figure out what was wrong.

She spotted him from across the room. He was sitting with some other Slytherins, a bottle of fire whiskey in hand.

Rose took a deep breath and approached him.

"Scorpius."

He turned to look at her. Immediately it was obvious he was drunk.

Rose had never been around him when he was drunk before. She had seen him a little buzzed, but never to this point. He wasn't one to get to this point. Rose inwardly was nervous of how he was going to act.

He stared at her, a bitter expression on his face. Rose was taken aback for a second. She hadn't seen him give her a look like this for years. Not since the days when he hated her.

"Scorpius what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing."

He was lying. It was obvious.

"Scorpius come on, you've been avoiding me all night. Something is wrong."

Scorpius glared at her. "I said nothing is wrong Rose. Can you leave me for a second, I'm having a conversation. "

Rose took a step forward, getting frustrated. "Why are you being such a twat?"

Scorpius stood up. Rose took a step backwards. "Why do you always have to be in my business?" he snapped back.

They were starting to draw attention from the people around them. Rose saw Albus take a step forward towards her, confusion and a bit of anger in his eyes, but she put up her hand to stop him.

"Is this about the game? You did a good Scorpius, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself."

"Stop saying that," Scorpius spat.

Rose stared at him. "No I'm not going to, because you did do great Scorp. You had so many great steals, and you made thr-"

"ONLY THREE BLOODY GOALS," Scorp shouted, "A bloody first year could do better than that! Three goals!"

"At least it's better than no goals," Rose interjected, her voice getting louder, "You could of not of got the quaffle at all! Slipped off your broom and gone to the hospital wing!"

"I SAID STOP." He stepped towards her, but she held her ground. "I've only made four goals this year!," he shouted louder, "I SHOULD BE MAKING FOUR GOALS EVERY TWENTY MINUTES NOT IN TWO GAMES. THE FIRST GAME I ONLY GOT ONE GOAL! ONE BLOODY GOAL OFF OF A THIRTEEN YEAR MUDBLOOD."

Rose's heart had stopped beating in her chest. 

"What did you just say."

The anger drained from his face when he looked at her. Tears were welling up in her eyes. 

"Rose-"

"No." She took a shaky step backwards.

"Rose, I-"

"No." She repeated louder.

He took a step towards her.

She slapped him hard.

Then she turned away from him.

And she ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. When I posted this on FFN, I got a comment that said, "I don't see why that would be that big of deal." Let me explain. I take it that the word "Mudblood" is a beyond derogatory curse word in the wizarding world. Or at least that is how I am interrupting it. I assume you guys can think of words that if you boyfriend called your siblings or something, you'd be pissed off or heartbroken. ITS A BIG DEAL OK, PERRY IS HER FAMILY. 
> 
> Also I added the part of her slapping him. Because the Rosie that I have created her to be would of socked him in the eye. But a slap is alright too.


	30. Heartbreak

Rose ran all the way back to the dormitory, not stopping until she was in front of the fat lady.

"Lizard legs," she croaked out.

"Are you alright dear?" the lady asked, peering down at her.

"Yes. Lizard legs."

The fat lady reluctantly swung open. Rose ran up the stairs and sat down on her bed. 

The door swung open seconds later. Sarah, who as always, was there right when Rose needed her.

Rose cried into her pillow for a little bit, unable to get a word out. Sarah sat beside her, silently waiting for her to catch my breath.

Finally Rose sat up, and looked at Sarah, tears streaming down her face.

"Did you hear what he said?"

She nodded. "Yes I heard."

"How could he do that? He-He knows how much my family means to me."

Sarah sighed. "I don't know. He was drunk."

"Yeah well that's no an excuse," Rose snapped.

"I'm not saying that it is. It does make people angrier though. But you are 100% right. It's a vulgar name, it shouldn't be used on anyone let alone Perry. I should know, I'm muggle-born."

Rose started to cry again, "I am so angry, why am I crying!"

"Oh honey," Sarah said, pulling her into a hug.

There was another knock on the door and Albus came in.

"Rosie? You ok?"

Rose didn't try to wipe away her tears. He came over and wrapped his arms around Rose's shoulders.

"The whole family wanted to come up here. I finally convinced them you probably just want to be with Sarah and possibly me for a little bit. You do want me here right? I can leave."

Rose choked out a little laugh, "Of course I want you here with me."

Rose sat there for a little while between her two best friends, and buried her head in her knees.

"James almost punched Scorp in the face," Albus suddenly said.

"What?" Rose shot up. "He did?"

"Yeah. I stopped him of course. Roxy had to hold him back, though she really wanted to let him go. You know our family; you insult one of us you insult all of us."

"Is Perry alright?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, I made sure everything calmed down before I left. Walked Scorpius down to the dormitory. He wanted to come after you, but I knew that wasn't the best idea."

Rose shook her head. "I don't want to talk to him or I will punch him in the face." 

Tears started to form in her eyes again, and Sarah put an arm around Rose again.

"It's alright Rosie. It's going to be ok."

...

Rose didn't go down to breakfast the next morning. 

She did go and see Perry though. He smiled and gave her a hug when she arrived in the Hufflepuff common room.

"Are you alright Rosie?" he asked, as they sat down in the big comfy chairs by the fire.

Rose knew her eyes were still red from crying, even though she had tried her best to conceal it.

"Me? I should be asking you Per, you were the one who he...who he-"

"I'm fine. It's not the first time I've been called that Rose."

Rose was shocked. "What? That's terrible Per, who has called you that?"

Perry shrugged. "Oh a couple people, I don't remember. A lot of people got mad when I made the team last year over all the kids who have been playing Quidditch their entire lives..."

"Why didn't you tell us? We could of done something about it!"

Perry grinned, "Like you guys did with Dom's ex boyfriend?"

Rose couldn't help but crack a tiny smile. "Maybe not to that extent."

"It does hurt when they call me it. But only for a minute, then I remember that it doesn't matter what they call me. I am proud to be a muggle-born, and I love playing Quidditch. Why would I let the bullies use something I'm proud of being as an insult?"

Perry was an amazing kid. Rose leaned over and ruffled his hair. "I think you could teach the world a thing or two Per."

...

At lunch the entire family sat at the same table. Usually that didn't happen unless it was family dinner night. But here they were, all sitting together just to be with Rose and Perry. When Rose informed everyone that this wasn't the first time that Perry had been called that, she was pretty sure the family was ready to murder someone.

"I haven't even heard someone use that word that wasn't in a movie!" exclaimed Dom. "Who the hell is going around calling children it?"

""Perry give us a list," Fred said, "I am about ready to go get expelled." 

"We will only get expelled if we get caught," added James. 

Perry, although flattered, refused to, causing a big argument to break out. 

Rose kept silent. Sarah said that Scorpius was hoping to approach her at lunch. He had been looking for her all morning. He didn't dare come near with the family around though.

Everyone remembered what happened to Dom's last boyfriend that broke her heart and gave Rose a concussion.

Rose avoided him for three days. She tried to stay out of the library. Lil told her that he seemed to lurk there, hoping Rose would come.

In potions, Sarah and Rose sat across the room from where Scorp sat with Albus. Al had forgiven Scorp. Albus informed her the first day after the accident. 

"I've forgiven him Rosie. I don't know, I was really mad at him. He didn't even sleep in the dormitory last night, I was so angry. But then suddenly, I was not so much anymore. 'Cause I know he's the worst, and I just kinda accepted it. But you take your time, forgive him when you're ready. And if you want me to keep him away from you I will do that."

"Thanks Al," Rose said, "and I would appreciate if you would. I don't want to face him yet."

She didn't speak to him. Until Thursday night, when he came and found her.

...

Rose had been sitting up in the owlery, finishing writing a letter to her Aunt Ginny. She had helped Rose when she had first started dating Scorpius, Rose was hoping she would be able to help her now.

Rose was so intent on my letter that she did not hear him approaching behind her.

"Rose."

She shut her eyes and took a shaky breath.

"Go away."

"I can't. I have to talk to you."

Rose shook her head. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Rose please." He reached out and touched her shoulder. Rose yanked away from him and stood up and turned around.

"I said go away Malfoy. I don't want to speak with you."

Now she could see him, anger boiled up. He was standing there, with his stupid grey eyes pleading. Rose wasn't going to fall for that.

"Rosie, please I'm sorry." He took a step towards her.

"I don't need your apologies Malfoy, you know that my family comes first every time. You should of known that I would choose Perry over you."

"Rose I had been drinking, and the game-"

"That's no excuse," Rose interrupted. "The words came out of your mouth. He's only thirteen Malfoy. THIRTEEN YEARS OLD. And he's being called horrid things just because he has some talent? What kind of person are you for bullying someone who is almost four years younger than you."

Scorpius stood there and didn't say anything.

"Maybe Albus can forgive you, but I don't want to be with someone who thinks that is ok."

"I don't think that-"

"But you did it anyways. I should of known. I should of known that you hadn't changed. You are still the eleven year old that hated me because I was better at you then something. I can't be with someone that is capable of such hatred."

Scorpius was silent. Rose stood there shaking, her head spinning from what had just happened. She turned around and grabbed the letter stuffing it in the envelope.

When she turned around Scorpius was gone.

Rose sat down on the bench. Artemis flew down beside her. Rose reached out and ran her fingers along the owl's silvery wings.

Flashbacks filled her head. All the times that Scorpius had hurt her. All the times he had called her names, had made fun of her making her cry at the age 11 and her blood boil at age 14. All the time he had her kicking him in the shin and then both of them getting a detention because of it.

But then the good memories came. As much as Rose tried to suppress them, she couldn't help but think of how happy she was.

Him carrying Rose to infirmary.

Dancing at the ball.

When they were bound together and Scorpius kissed her.

Playing King of the Raft at the lake

The way he held her on the way home because she was scared.

When he ate the heart's desire at the party and told her he wanted to kiss her.

The flour fight they had in potions.

When he stood up for her at Hogsmeade, and called her his girlfriend.

Christmas, when he gave her Artemis.

Sleeping under the stars with him.

Rose tied the letter to Artemis's leg, holding back the tears. As soon as she got back to my dormitory, she let out all the feelings she was keeping bottled up and started to cry.

...

...

...

_Dear Rose,_

_I've spent a lot time thinking about your letter. You can ask your Uncle Harry, I've been pacing the house trying to figure out what I am going to say to you._

_First I want to tell you that I am so proud of you. If there is one thing I know, the most important thing in the world is love. Family should always be a priority before anything else. Perry is incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful cousin like you. I fully believe that Perry is his happy, bubbly self because of the love you and the cousins gave him and Jack when they were introduced to the wizard world. Without love, a person can become a shell of a human being._

_Second I'm afraid to say that I can't help you in the way you want me to. I know it would be great if I could just tell you that the pain will stop within 10 days, and then you will be able to move on with your life and be happy. The fact is that I don't know. I don't know if you will move on from Scorpius and if you will be happy without him. That all depends on you. Maybe you don't need him. Maybe you do. The only way you'll be able to find out is to keep on moving forward. If in six months, you decide to forgive him, then that's what happens. If you decide to not forgive him for another decade, well then that's ok too._

_I'm sorry I can't be more helpful. My advice to you is listen to your heart. I know that sounds like a line you'd hear on one of those TV movies but it's true. Listen to your heart, and do what it says is best._

_I love you lots. Be strong my beautiful girl._

_-Aunt Ginny_


	31. I Love You/The Last Matches

Weeks went by. Scorpius tried to talk to Rose on multiple occasions. She never responded. The problem was she couldn't stop thinking about him either.

Rose tried to move on. But every time she was in the great hall, she always spotted his blonde hair. In potions, she would constantly glance his way. She would always be looking for him. Usually Jessamine or Missy were draped over him. It was painful seeing him smile at them. It felt like her heart was always breaking.

In April the big news came that the Remembrance Ball was to be pushed back by a month. There still would be a ceremony on May 2nd, but due to a giant international ministry event, many people would not have not been able to attend the ball, including Rose's mother and Uncle Harry. It was a big deal, this would be only the second time that the ball had to be rescheduled.

Rose had decided she was not going to look for a date until at least the middle of may, since she had the extra time. She had no clue who she was going to go with.

Rose spent a lot of time with her family since the break-up in March, but when the end of April rolled around and the final Quidditch matches came closer she saw them less and less. James was drilling the team, two practices a day. It was his final year at Hogwarts, and he was determined to win the cup.

The first Saturday in May was the Slytherin versus Ravenclaw match to determine third and fourth place.

The night before the match, Rose sat in her room doodling in a notebook. Everyone else was out at dinner, buzzing with excitement for the upcoming games. Rose had grabbed hers to go so she could spend some much needed quiet in her room. Artemis flew through the open window and landed next to her. 

"Well hello beauty," Rose smiled, "I didn't realize you were gone? Who's the letter from?"

She carefully untied the twine, and took the parcel off of her owl's leg. Rose tore open the parcel, and a letter fell out onto the floor. She picked it up, and started to read it, absentmindedly running my fingers over Artemis's feathers.

_Dear Rose,_

_I know you want don't want to talk to me, but please read to the end of this letter. I want you to hear what I have to say._

_When I met you the first day of class, first year I was instantly jealous of you. I was jealous that you were smarter than me. I was jealous that everyone seemed to love you. And I was jealous of the family that was always by your side. I didn't hate you. I hated the fact that I couldn't be more like you._

_I would of never of guessed that I would fall insanely and deeply in love with you._

_I love everything about you Rose Weasley. I love the way you can beat in every class, even defense against the dark arts. I love the way you get way invested into books and TV shows. I love the way you curl your feet up to you, even in class. I love the look in your eyes when you're reading something good, and you can't look away from the page. I love the way you care for your family and would go to the ends of the earth for them. I love your family as well, every single one of them. I love when you smile and your laugh that makes even the worst days for me better. I love the way that you can stand up for yourself, even though you are a foot shorter than those you are standing up to. I love your red curls and the freckles that are just below your eyes. I love everything about you Rose Weasley. And I don't think I could ever be with someone else for the rest of my life because you are too perfect, no one else comes close._

_I know that I've made mistakes, and I can never express how sorry I am. I want you to know that I did not mean a word of it. Perry is a great kid and ten times the better Quidditch player than I ever could be. It was the jealousy talking, just like it was for those five years with you._

_If you could forgive me Rose, I promise I will never, ever keep my feelings bottled up to that point. I will never ignore you because I'm angry over something as petty as a silly sport's match. I promise you that, I will never hurt you or your family like that again._

_If it means I have to wait ten years for your forgiveness, I will do that. You're the only girl I want, I will wait._

_I love you Rose._

_Scorpius Malfoy_

Tears rolled down her cheeks as Rose finished the letter. Then she noticed something else in the parcel.

It was the picture of the two of them from the last ball. Rose watched them gracefully glide around, their faces beaming, their eyes glistening.

Rose loved him. Rose would always love him. And he would always love her.

Artemis hooted happily beside Rose, and she couldn't help but let out a little laugh.

"That's right Artemis. I forgive him."

Sarah, Nicola, and Dom walked into the room discussing some new magazine when they stopped and saw her standing by the window, tears in her eyes, clutching the letter and the picture.

Sarah was over in seconds, "Rose, is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Rose said wiping away the tears. Then she laughed. "Everything is great actually."

...

Of course the girls had to read the letter twice.

"It's so romantic," Dom swooned, "Almost as romantic as me and Will."

Sarah look towards Rose and rolled her eyes and Rose tried to stifle a laugh.

"So when are you going to talk to him?" Nicola asked, "Are you going to have a dramatic moment in the rain when he's like," she lowered her voice, " 'Do you love me again' and then you say "I never stopped!' and then you make out?"

Rose laughed, "I was actually thinking of just talking to him at breakfast in the morning."

But he wasn't at breakfast in the morning. Apparently Daniel had ordered the team to eat breakfast in the locker room.

Disappointed, the girls made their way to the Quidditch pitch. They found Lily sitting by some of the other cousins, and they slid in next to her. The sky was looking a little gray, and it did look like it might rain.

Cheers erupted as the two teams came out onto the field.

Rose located him immediately. Steps behind Daniel Tommens. His head looked up, eyes swiveling around the pitch until he somehow managed to catch hers.

Her heart did a flip. A smile broke out on her face, and she gave a little wave.

Scorpius erupted into a giant grin. He looked down at the field and then back up to her. The girls started giggling, and Rose bit her lip nervously.

_"Welcome back everyone to the second to last match of the year, Ravenclaw versus Slytherin! As usual, I'm Callum Jordan and it is a great day for Quidditch! That is a lie, I actually think it might rain. Oh well, it just adds to the drama! Captain Tommens of Slytherin and Captain Weasley are shaking hands. Only one Weasley out there today, of the Roxy variety. Though there is a Potter on the opposing team."_

The whistle blew once, and everyone mounted their brooms, eyes trained on the quaffle in the Madam Spinnet's hand. She blew the whistle again, and the game started.

_"Weasley immediately gets the quaffle for Ravenclaw. She passes it to Locke. Locke to Myers, Myers shoots and nope! The Slytherin keeper is having none of that today! Malfoy now has the quaffle. He passes it Seeley. Seeley dodges that bludger, nice try Hopkins. Seeley sends it to Malfoy. Malfoy shoots and SCORES SCORPIUS MALFOY SCORES!"_

The crowd all jump up, clapping. Scorpius gave his teammates high fives, swooping around the stadium. When he looked directly at Rose, he gave her one his smiles that only Rose ever received. 

At the 45 minute mark, Slytherin was up 90-60. Suddenly, the sky erupted and rain poured from above. Professors took out their wands, pulling out the canvases to cover the crowd.

_"Yes folks, it may be pouring but that's not going to stop these players. No siree, the rain never bothered them anyways. Wait- Scorpius Malfoy has the quaffle. He avoids Locke. He shoots-and scores! Another goal for Slytherin chaser Scorpius Malfoy, his sixth of the game! He is on fire out there!"_

When the hour mark came, the players were soaked to the bone, but still they played on. Albus swept the stadium, even though it was getting difficult to see through the rain. James was so kind to shout out tips to him, even though Al could clearly not hear him.

_"The score is 130-140 folks, with Slytherin in the lead. They may be wet, but the play-WAIT ALBUS POTTER MUST OF SEEN SOMETHING. AND I DON'T THINK BUTTERFLIES WOULD BE OUT IN THIS WEATHER, SO IT MUST BE THE SNITCH! HE'S REACHING OUT-HAS HE GOT IT? HE HAS! ALBUS POTTER HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! SLYTHERIN WINS, SLYTHERIN WINS!"_

The family jumped up, screaming at the top of our lungs.

"Come on!" Sarah shouted, dragging Rose towards the stairs so they could get to the field.

The team had tackled Albus, slapping his back and hugging him. As soon as Sarah and Rose emerged onto the field, Albus broke away and ran to Sarah picking her up and spinning her around.

Scorpius spotted Rose. She stopped in her tracks, smiling at him. He beamed at her, giving her a little nod to beckon her towards him.

She ran. This time towards him.

Rose threw her arms around his neck and he lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and he held her inches away from his face.

"Rose." he said, his face suddenly becoming serious.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

Rose leaned in and pressed her mouth to his, leaving fireworks in her head from the weeks she had gone without this.

When she pulled away for just a moment, she said, "I forgive you."

Rose leaned in again, but he stopped her.

"Rose. Will you go to the ball with me?"

Rose laughed, rain tumbling down her face as she leaned her forehead against his.

"Of course."

...

...

...

_"Welcome everyone to the highly anticipated, last Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff! Whoever wins today's match will win the cup! We have some remarkable players today including Gryffindor captain and seeker James Potter! This is Potter's final year playing, but rumors have it he might be going pro. Of course Potter's cousin Perry Dursley is the Hufflepuff keeper today, who so far this year has only let in 6 goals all season! That may change today, because his other cousin Lily is playing, who has had a fantastic first year! The stakes are high today folks, and here come the players!"_

The family stood up and cheered as the teams took the fields. Scorp was standing right beside Rose, with Al on her other side and Sarah by him. This was probably going to be the best game of the year. Although of course Rose was supporting Perry, but she was really hoping that Gryffindor would win.

James went and shook hands with Edmund Corner, and gave a little nod to Per. The players all mounted their brooms, and the whistle blew. Everyone shot up into the air, Edmund grabbing the quaffle right away.

Edmund zoomed as quick as he could, trying to get to the goal post before Louise had the chance to situate herself. No such luck however, Louise was ready for him and defended the goal with ease.

Hufflepuff scored the first two goals of the game, but Lily scored not long after. The cousins jumped up and clapped their hands and yelled for her when she did it. She turned and waved in their direction, before shooting off back into the game.

Rose saw Scorpius was staring at her, a smile on his face.

"What?" Rose asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I just really missed seeing you so happy."

Her cheeks turned red, and he laughed before giving her a peck on the cheek.

At the 50th minute mark, Gryffindor was behind 80-60. Lily had made five out of the six goals against Perry. Suddenly James shot forward across the pitch. The snitch had to have been almost on the other side of the stadium away from him, but he managed to keep track of its movements.

The Hufflepuff seeker, Marquis followed, trying to keep up with him. But James was too fast, and soon he held the tiny golden ball in his hand.

"JAMES POTTER HAS DONE IT! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE CUP!"

The crowd went wild, and stormed the field. The team was lifted up on everyone's shoulders, paraded around the stadium.

Rose caught James eye, and gave him a thumbs up when he waved her way.

With the excitement of the game, and Scorpius beside her again, Rose had never been happier.


	32. Dancing Again

"Rose, you look too beautiful, stop."

Rose giggled from where she was putting in her earrings at the mirror. Her mum had bought her a gorgeous floor length navy blue dress. Its straps fell slightly off the shoulders and the silk fabric hugged her body but in a comfortable enough way. Dom had tamed her ringlets so they fell perfectly on either side of her head, and pinned them back so it wouldn't get in her face. The necklace that she wore (not real diamonds) matched the earrings she was putting on (real diamonds).

"Please Dom," Rose said, "You look like you could be going to the Oscars."

Dom smiled at me and turned back to the mirror to finish up putting on her makeup. She looked flawless in her light pink dress which was getting sparkles everywhere. 

Lily was excited. It was her first year being able to attend the. She was going with another boy in her year named Scott. It was also going to be Hugo's first year as well; he was going with Lily's friend in Ravenclaw named Bella.

Rose looked around at her best friends buzzing with anticipation.

"Guys, you all look so beautiful and I'm so lucky to have such amazing friends. I love you all so much."

There was a collective awe from the girls. 

"Come here," said Dom pulling her into a hug. The rest of the girls joined in. 

When they pulled away, Nicola smiled. "Ready to knock our dates off their feet?"

...

As soon as Scorpius came into view, his eyes lit up as he took all of Rose in.

Rose approached her boyfriend, looking dashing in his charcoal grey suit. He bent over and whispered in her ear.

"You look beautiful Rose."

Rose blushed, and whispered back. "I'm still no good in heels. Don't let me fall."

"Never," he said back.

"Ready to go?" Nicola asked, turning to the group.

They nodded and headed to the great hall, Rose clutching onto Scorpius's arm tightly. Dom laughed along with her date, Josh Seeley, the Slytherin chaser from New Zealand. It turns out he has a girl he is love with back in New Zealand, so they were happily chatting about their respected love interests.

When they finally reached the entrance to the ball, they arranged how they would enter. Nicola and her date went first, followed by Dom and Josh. Lily and her date. Sarah and Albus. And finally Scorpius and Rose.

"Ready?" he asked, a sparkle in his eye.

"As I'll ever be."

"I must say, I much prefer being on your arm this year than watching you with another guy."

He winked at her, and then urged her forward.

Rose saw her parents first, beaming at her from the crowd. Rose's mum put her hand over her heart at how beautiful her daughter looked. Scorpius's parents were there too. They had never come to a Remembrance ball before, but Rose had heard that Uncle Harry insisted they come by showing up to their house. 

When Rose and Scorpius, reached the bottom, her mom came over and gave her a hug.

"Oh Rosie, you look so beautiful!"

Her father was right behind Rose's mother, and stuck out his hand to Scorpius, which Scorpius happily shook.

Scorpius's parents came over as well, Astoria pulling Rose in for a hug.

"Rose, you look so beautiful."

Rose thanked her as she saw Astoria was tearing up. Rose's father shook Scorpius's father's hand as well.

Various family members approached Rose, complimenting her on her appearance. Victoire pulled Rose aside, and demanded her to retell the story of Scorpius's letter.

"That is so romantic!" she gushed, "I wish my boyfriend would do something like that..." She pointedly looked at Teddy, but he was too busy talking with Scorpius. The two of them had a lot of catching up to do, now that they were relatives on speaking terms.

Dinner was called, and everyone went to their respected tables. Rose sat at the head table with her parents and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. This year Lily sat with them with her date, along with Albus and Sarah and the Malfoys. 

Professor McGonagall stood up and the hall fell silent.

"Thank you all for making it to the 24th annual Remembrance Ball, even if it's a month late. A certain somebody wouldn't of been able to make it, and it didn't feel right having it without him." She looked at Uncle Harry who grinned at her.

"Each and every year we come together to remember those who we lost all those years ago. And even though time had moved on, we still keep them in our hearts everyday that goes by. As tradition, I will read the names of those we held dear."

After the list was read, the tears were wiped away, and everyone gathered themselves once more, dinner commenced.

Rose chatted with her family, but couldn't help but notice Scorpius stealing glances her way constantly.

"So Rose," Astoria asked, "Do you have a plan for after Hogwarts?"

"I'm hoping I can go to med school, so I can be a Healer," Rose said. 

Astoria clapped her hands together. "Oh such a wonderful profession! My sister works as a healer in America, she absolutely loves it!"

"Oh how is Daphne?" Ginny asked.

The adults started talking, and Scorpius leaned over to talk to Rose.

"She absolutely adores you."

"Do you think so?" Rose asked.

"Absolutely. So does my father."

She was surprised. "Really?"

"Yep," Scorp replied, "He said that he likes that you can hold your own. He actually applauded that you slapped me in the face. I just wish your parents liked me as much as mine like you."

Rose took his hands. "They will like you once they get to know you. And they will have to get to know you, because I'm planning on keeping you around for awhile."

Scorpius kissed her on the cheek.

"Good. Because I'm not planning on going anytime soon."

...

Rose danced the night away.

When the fast songs were playing, Rose danced along her friends, throwing her hands up in the air along to the beat of the music. Scorpius would grab her hands or her waist, and they would sway along with music, without a care in the world.

When the slow songs came on, Rose danced with her family or friends of the family. Ly had saved her a dance, and so did Teddy.

When Rose danced with her father, he asked her for what seemed like the thousandth time if she was sure that Scorpius was the one for her.

Rose assured him that he was. She didn't want anybody else.

Rose danced once with Scorpius's father as well.

"You are a very interesting young lady," he said, "Scorpius says you were the only person that could spit back insults as fast as he gave them."

Rose laughed nervously, thinking about the slap, but Draco Malfoy gave her a reassuring smile. "I think that's good for him. He needs someone who won't let his ego get to large, like Astoria does with me."

As the night came to a close, Rose was standing chatting with her Aunt Angelina when the final song came on.

Her head perked up when she heard it was the song.

"May I have this dance?"

Rose turned around to see Scorpius extending his hand to her. She gladly took it, allowing him to lead her to the dance floor. 

His hands went to her waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"This is a lot different circumstances then last year," he said.

"Very different. I'm glad."

Scorpius gazed lovingly into her eyes. "Me too."

Rose rested her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes as they swayed to the music. To their song. The perfect ending to a perfect night.


	33. Epilogue

**-Twelve Years Later-**

Rose hummed softly to the baby in her arms, rocking him into a blissful sleep. She smiled at the beautiful boy in her arms, his eye lids closed, his breathing steadying. It had been her first week back at St. Mungo's since she had him, and Rose already missed seeing him every day. She loved her work, but not as much as she loved being here with her children, rocking them to sleep.

Rose pressed a light kiss to his forehead, and laid him down in his crib.

"Goodnight Nile," she whispered.

Rose was surprised to see her husband leaning against the door frame, watching her. Rose scowled at him, and pushed him out of the nursery, shutting the door softly behind her.

"How long have you been standing there?" she asked.

"Only a few minutes," Scorpius replied, "I heard you humming our song, so I came to watch you."

They made their way to the kitchen so Rose could finish making lunches for tomorrow's picnic.

"Did Evynn go to sleep alright?"

Scorpius nodded, sitting on a stool. "She fell asleep during the middle of the story actually. Preschool must really being wearing her out. Did the twins give you trouble?"

Rose sighed. "Asher was fine as usual. Addie not so much."

"Must be the terrible twos."

"Why did we decide having four kids was a good idea?" 

Rose threw the sandwiches into the basket, put a quick cooling charm on it, and set it on the counter.

"Is Dom and Will going to make it to the picnic?" Scorp asked.

"She said they would try their best, Pamela has ballet class and they are hoping afterwards they can make it."

Dominique had done exactly what she said she was going to do. The summer after her sixth year, she would apparate to Nana's, then walk into town to spend time with Will. After seventh year, they dated for about 14 months before she finally decided to tell him that she was a witch. He didn't take it so well to begin with, not nearly as well as Charlotte did when Fred told her. He broke up with Dom but that didn't last long before he came to terms with her being a witch and came back.

"It should be an interesting picnic. Didn't Albus say that Cabe showed signs of magic the other day?"

"Yep," Rose replied, "Sarah thought she saw some floating cars attacking Vivanne's crib, but when she entered the room they fell to the ground. He won't admit it either of course."

Scorpius chuckled. "Won't that be fun when our little bundles of joy start showing signs? I can see Addie accidentally causing every glass in the house to shatter one day when she gets screams."

"Merlin help us," Rose muttered.

The two of them made the way up the stairs and down the hallway to their bedroom, peeking in the doors to make sure the children were all fast asleep.

The twins shared a room for now. Both of them had the same silvery blond hair as their father. Asher slept with his thumb in his mouth, clutching his stuffed dragon that his great Uncle Charlie got him for his birthday. Addie was splayed out on her bed, blanket on the floor, her own stuffed dragon in her hand dangling off the bed. Her toy broom was lying in bed with her. She couldn't sleep without it. Rose quietly tip-toed over and put the blanket back over her.

Rose looked into Evynn's room, smiling as she saw her daughter curled up in the corner of her bed. Her strawberry-blonde curls were in a tangle on her pillow, and Rose knew that tomorrow it was going to be hard to brush it. Her room was a mess; toys were spilled out everywhere. Currently she was fascinated with the idea of pirates, so her toy box had to be emptied so it could serve as her ship.

Nile was only two months old. His hair hadn't come in yet, and the family had bets on what color it would be. Rose's dad wanted it to be red, her mother wanted it to be brown like Hugo's daughter. Rose had a feeling it was going to blonde, just like his father's

In Rose and Scorpius's bedroom there were four pictures hanging on the wall, and two more in frames.

The first was on the last day of Hogwarts. Dom, Nicola, Sarah, and Rose were hugging goodbye, tears in our eyes.

The second one was at the Quidditch World Cup, in the center of the field. That was the first year that Perry was the keeper for England, and James was the seeker. Rose had her arms around the both of them, even though they were sweaty from the game. Perry was only 18 when they won the World Cup.

The third one was at Christmas, and their gigantic family was laughing and smiling as they scrunched together in one picture, everyone wearing their sweaters.

The fourth was their wedding day. Sarah was the maid of honor. Albus was Scorpius's best man. The wedding was perfect in every way. It was the best day of Rose's life.

On the dresser sat the two photos in frames, both alike but extremely different. Both were taken at Remembrance balls. Both were of Scorpius and Rose dancing. But in one of them she thought she hated him, and the other she knew she loved him.

Rose crawled into bed beside Scorpius, and put her head on his shoulder.

"Remember when you loathed me?" Rose asked, using her finger to trace patterns on his arm.

"I never hated you," he said, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer, "I just didn't realize at the time that my strong feelings for you were love."

They lay there for awhile, reminiscing about the school days.

"Life really was eventful back then, wasn't it?"

"It was," he agreed, "And it still is. We should probably get some sleep before Nile wakes up again."

He flicked his wand to turn off the light, and rose re-positioned herself so she was curled up against his side.

"Goodnight Rose," Scorpius said.

"Goodnight Scorp," Rose replied, "I love you with all of my being."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you made it to the end of this fic, congratulations! I am glad there are still Scorose fans out there. But don't be sad, go check out my collection of short stories named "I Loathe You BONUS CONTENT". Find out how the Dursley's joined the family. Get Scorp's POV on the dance. Read about their engagement and wedding. And enjoy short stories about other people in the the I Loathe You Universe! 
> 
> PLEASE COMMENT. I will forever enjoy hearing from people who have enjoyed my stories. 
> 
> All my love, Macey.

**Author's Note:**

> Teddy Lupin-23, Gryffindor
> 
> Victiore Weasley-20, Gryffindor (Bill's daughter)
> 
> Molly Weasley-18, Ravenclaw (Percy's daughter)
> 
> James Potter-6th year, Gryffindor
> 
> Fred Weasley-6th year, Gryffindor
> 
> Roxy Weasley-5th year, Ravenclaw (George's daughter)
> 
> Rose Weasley-5th year, Gryffinndor
> 
> Albus Potter-5th year, Slytherin (he's the only one, poor dear)
> 
> Dominique Weasley-5th year, Gryffinndor (Bill's daughter)
> 
> Jack Dursley-4th year, Hufflepuff (Dudley's son)
> 
> Lucy Weasley-4th year, Ravenclaw (Percy's daughter)
> 
> Lily Potter-3rd year, Gryffindor
> 
> Hugo Weasley-3rd year, Gryffindor
> 
> Perry Dursley-2nd year, Hufflepuff (Dudley's son)
> 
> Louis Weasley-2nd year, Hufflepuff (Bill's son)


End file.
